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WEBSTER 

The  Bunker  Hill 
Monument  Orations. 


E 

241 

B9W35 


No.  44. 
ENGLISH  CLASSIC  SERIES. 


THE 

BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT 

ORATIONS. 

THE  BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT.    (1825.) 
COMPLETION  OF  THE  BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT.    (1843) 

BY  DANIEL  WEBSTER. 


FOR  SCHOOL  AND  HOME  USE. 


EDITED  BY 

ALBERT  F.  BLAISDELL. 

AUTHOR  OF  "STUDY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  CLASSICS,"   "OUTLINES  FOR 

THE  STUDY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  CLASSICS,"   "SHAKESPEARE 

SPEAKER,"   "MEMORY  QUOTATIONS,"  ANNOTATED 

EDITIONS  OF  "CHRISTMAS   CAROL," 

"SKETCH  BOOK,"  ETC. 


NEW  YORK : 

CLARK  &  MAYNARD,  PUBLISHERS, 
734  BROADWAY. 


Two-Book  Series  of  Arithmetics, 

By  JAMES  B.  THOMSON,  LL.D.,  author  of  a  Mathematical  Course. 

1.  FIRST    LESSONS  IN  ARITHMETIC,  Oral    and   Written. 

Fully  and  handsomely  illustrated.   For  Primary  Schools.    144  pp. 
16mo,  cloth. 

2.  A  COMPLETE  GRADED  ARITHMETIC,  Oral  and  Writ- 

ten, upon  the  Inductive  Method  of  Instruction.     For  Schools 
and  Academies.     400  pp.     12mo,  cloth. 

This  entirely  new  series  of  Arithmetics  by  DR.  THOMSON  has  been 
prepared  to  meet  the  demand  for  a  complete  course  in  two  books.  The 
following  embrace  some  of  the  characteristic  features  of  the  books: 

First  Lessons.— This  volume  Is  intended  for  Primary  Classes.  It  is 
divided  into  Six  Sections,  and  each  Section  into  Twenty  Lessons.  These 
Sections  cover  the  ground  generally  required  in  large  cities  for  promotion 
from  grade  to  grade. 

The  book  is  handsomely  illustrated.  Oral  and  slate  exercises  are  com- 
bined throughout.  Addition  and  Subtraction  are  taught  in  connection, 
and  also  Multiplication  and  Division.  This  is  believed  to  be  in  accordance 
with  the  best  methods  of  teaching  these  subjects. 


Complete  Graded. — This  book  unites  in  one  volume  Oral  and 
"Written  Arithmetic  upon  the  inductive  method  of  instruction.  Its  aim  is 
twofold :  to  develop  the  intellect  of  the  pupil,  and  to  prepare  him  for  the 
actual  business  of  life.  In  securing  these  objects,  it  takes  the  most  direct 
road  to  a  practical  knowledge  of  Arithmetic. 

The  pupil  is  led  by  a  few  simple,  appropriate  examples  to  infer  for 
himself  the  general  principles  upon  which  the  operations  and  rules  depend, 
instead  of  taking  them  upon  the  authority  of  the  author  without  explana- 
tion. He  is  thus  taught  to  put  the  steps  of  particular  solutions  into  a 
concise  statement,  or  general  formula.  This  method  of  developing  prin- 
ciples is  an  important  feature. 

It  has  been  a  cardinal  point  to  make  the  explanations  simple,  the  steps 
in  the  reasoning  short  and  logical,  and  the  definitions  and  rules  brief,  clear 
and  comprehensive. 

The  discussion  of  topics  which  belong  exclusively  to  the  higher  depart- 
ments of  the  science  is  avoided;  while  subjects  deemed  too  difficult  to  be 
appreciated  by  beginners,  but  important  for  them  when  more  advanced, 
are  placed  in  the  Appendix,  to  be  used  at  the  discretion  of  the  teacher. 

Arithmetical  puzzles  and  paradoxes,  and  problems  relating  to  subjects 
having  a  demoralizing  tendency,  as  gambling,  etc.,  are  excluded.  All  that 
is  obsolete  in  the  former  Tables  of  Weights  and  Measures  is  eliminated,  and 
the  part  retained  is  corrected  in  accordance  with  present  Jaw  and  usage. 

Examples  for  Practice,  Problems  for  Review,  and  Test  Questions  are 
abundant  in  number  and  variety,  and  all  are  different  from  those  in  the 
author's  Practical  Arithmetic. 

The  arrangement  of  subjects  is  systematic:  no  principle  is  anticipated, 
or  used  in  the  explanation  of  another,  until  it  has  itself  been  explained. 
Subjects  intimately  connected  are  grouped  together  in  the  order  of  their 
dependence. 

Teachers  and  School  Officers,  who  are  dissatisfied  with  the  Arith- 
metics they  have  in  use,  are  invited  to  confer  with  the  publishers. 


CLARK  &  MAYNARD,  Publishers,  New  York, 

Copyright,   1885.  by  Clark  &f  Maynard. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  BAEBARA 


LIFE  OF  DANIEL  WEBSTER. 


DAXIEL,  WEBSTER,  one  of  the  greatest  orators  and  statesmen 
that  this  country  ever  produced,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Salis- 
bury (now  known  as  Franklin),  New  Hampshire,  on  the  18th 
of  January,  1782.  His  father,  Ebenezer  Webster,  was  a  distin- 
guished soldier  and  officer  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  After 
the  war,  he  moved  with  his  large  family  into  what  was  then  the 
savage  wilds  of  New  Hampshire.  He  was  a  man  of  little  book- 
learning,  but  with  his  strong  mind  and  vigorous  frame  he  be- 
came a  sort  of  intellectual  leader  in  his  neighborhood.  He  was 
appointed  a  "side-judge"  for  the  county,  a  place  of  considera- 
ble influence  in  those  days.  His  great  aim  was  to  educate  his 
children  to  the  utmost  of  his  limited  ability.  Captain  Webster 
married  Abigail  Eastman  for  a  second  wife.  She  was  a  woman 
of  more  than  ordinary  intellect,  and  possessed  a  force  of  char- 
acter which  was  felt  throughout  the  humble  circle  in  which  she 
moved.  She  was  ambitious  for  her  two  sons,  Ezekiel  and 
Daniel,  that  they  should  excel.  The  distinction  attained  by 
both,  and  especially  by  Daniel,  may  well  be  traced  in  part  to 
her  early  promptings  and  judicious  guidance.  In  the  last  year 
of  the  Revolutionary  War,  in  the  humble  house  which  his 
father  had  built  in  the  woods  on  the  outskirts  of  civilization, 
Daniel  Webster  was  born.  During  his  childhood,  he  was  sickly 
and  delicate,  and  gave  no  promise  of  the  robust  and  vigorous 
frame  which  he  had  in  his  manhood.  It  may  well  be  supposed 
that  his  early  opportunities  for  education  were  very  scanty. 
Because  he  was  frail  and  delicate,  Daniel's  parents  took  great 
pains  to  send  him  to  the  winter  schools,  oftentimes  three  miles 
away  from  home.  As  an  older  half-brother  said,  "  Dan  was 
sent  to  school  that  he  might  get  to  know  as  much  as  the  other 
boys."  It  is  probable  that  the  best  part  of  his  early  education 
was  derived  from  the  judicious  and  experienced  father,  and  the 
resolute,  affectionate  and  ambitious  mother.  In  those  days 
books  were  very  scarce  and  Daniel  eagerly  read  every  book  he 
could  find.  He  was  fond  of  poetry  and  at  the  age  of  twelve 
could  repeat  from  memory  the  greater  part  of  Watts'  "  Psalms 
and  Hymns."  In  his  "  Autobiography  "  he  says :  "I  remember 
that  my  father  brought  home  from" some  of  the  lower  towns 
Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  published  in  a  sort  of  pamphlet.  I  took 
it,  and  very  soon  could  repeat  it  from  beginning  to  end.  We 
had  so  few  books,  that  to  read  them  once  or  twice  was  nothing. 
We  thought  they  were  all  to  be  got  by  heart."  At  the  age  of 
fourteen,  he  was  sent  to  Phillips  Academy,  in  Exeter,  N.  H., 
but  remained  only  nine  months  on  account  of  the  poverty  of 

3 


4  LIFE   OF   DAXIEL   WEBSTER. 

the  family.  The  future  orator  found  his  greatest  trouble  at 
Exeter  in  declaiming.  "Many  a  piece,"  says  Webster  "did 
I  commit  to  memory,  and  recite  and  rehearse,  in  my  own 
room,  over  and  over  again ;  yet  when  the  day  came,  when  the 
school  collected  to  hear  declamations,  when  my  name  was 
called,  and  I  saw  all  eyes  turned  to  my  seat,  I  could  not  raise 
myself  from  it.  When  the  occasion  was  over,  I  went  home 
and  wept  bitter  tears  of  mortification."  He  now  studied  with 
a  clergyman  at  home  and  entered  Dartmouth  College  in  1797. 
The  familiar  story  of  how  young  Webster  "worked  his  way" 
through  college  and  the  self-denial  and  rigid  economy  he  exer- 
cised is  told  in  his  "Autobiography."  After  graduation,  hard 
pushed  for  money  while  studying  law,  how  he  took  charge  of 
an  academy  at  Fryeburg,  Maine,  for  one  dollar  a  day.  He  paid 
his  board  by  copying  deeds  and  sent  his  spare  money  to  help 
his  brother  Ezekiel  through  Dartmouth.  Webster  Avas  admit- 
ted to  the  bar  in  1805,  began  practice  in  Boscawen,  and  after- 
wards in  Portsmouth.  He  took  a  high  rank  in  his  profession 
at  once,  and,  in  1812,  was  elected  a  member  of  Congress.  In 
1816,  he  declined  a  re-election  and  removed  to  Boston.  In  the 
next  seven  years  he  worked  long  and  hard  in  his  profession  and 
soon  established  his  reputation  as  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  of 
the  land.  In  1822  he  was  again  sent  to  Congress  and  in  1828  he 
was  chosen  a  Senator.  He  remained  in  the  Senate  for  twelve 
years,  when  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  by  President 
Harrison.  In  1845  he  returned  to  the  Senate,  and  remained 
until  1850,  when  he  became  Secretary  of  State  under  President 
Fillmore.  He  resigned  his  office  early  in  1852  on  account  of  his 
health  and  retired  to  his  home  by  the  seaside  at  Marshfield, 
Mass.,  where  he  died  October  24  of  the  same  year. 

Daniel  Webster  is  universally  acknowledged  to  be  the  fore- 
most of  constitutional  lawyers  and  of  parliamentary  debaters, 
and  without  a  peer  in  the  highest  realms  of  classic  aiid  patriotic 
oratory.  Many  of  his  orations,  as  the  famous  Bunker  Hill 
Monument  orations,  the  eulogy  upon  Adams  and  Jefferson,  the 
speech  upon  the  trial  of  the  murderers  of  Capt.  Joseph  White, 
the  "  Reply  to  Hayne,  "  and  others  are  universally  accepted  as 
classics  in  modern  oratory.  Physically,  Webster  was  a  mag- 
nificent specimen  of  a  man.  Such  a  form,  such  a  face,  such  a 
presence,  are  rarely  given  to  any  man.  Webster's  manner  had 
a  wonderful  impressiveness  that  intimacy  never  wore  off.  His 
gracious  bearing  and  gentle  courtesy  made  him  the  delight  of 
every  person  he  ever  met.  His  oratory  was  in  perfect  keeping 
with  the  man,  gracious,  logical,  majestic,  and  often  sxiblinie. 
He  was  by  nature  free,  generous  and  lavish  in  his  manner  of 
living.  As  a  result  his  own  private  finances  were  often  much 
embarrassed.  His  wealthy  admirers  often  tided  him  over  his 
financial  straits.  Hampered  as  he  was  financially,  he  never 
sullied  his  great  fame  or  enriched  himself  or  others'by  political 
jobbery. 


DANIEL  WEBSTER,  1782-1852. 

"WHO  does  not  rank  him  as  a  great  American  author?  Against  the 
maxim  of  Mr.  Fox  his  speeches  read  well,  and  yet  were  good  speeches 
—great  speeches  in  delivery.  So  critically  do  they  keep  the  right  side 
of  the  line  which  parts  eloquence  from  rhetoric,  and  so  far  do  they 
rise  above  the  penury  of  mere  debate,  that  the  general  reason  of  the 
country  has  enshrined  them  at  once,  and  forever,  among  our  classics." 
—Rufus  Choate's  Euloyy  on  Webster. 

"  READ  his  works,  and  feel  what  a  blessing  civil  and  religious  liberty 
is.  Read  them  and  feel  what  a  blessing  it  is  to  live  under  a  free  govern- 
ment. Read  them;  and  if,  which  God  forbid,  the  obligations  of  the 
Constitution  of  your  country  hang  loosely  on  you,  rivet  them  with  his 
thoughts.  His  giant  efforts  are  embalmed  in  our  school  books,  enshrined 
with  the  speeches  of  Burke,  Sheridan,  and  Chatham,  to  animate  and 
inspire  the  youth  of  our  country." 

"HE  has  poured  the  measureless  wealth  of  his  own  intellect  into  all 
the  schools  and  colleges  of  the  land.  There  is  scarcely  a  child  in  the 
country,  twelve  years  old,  whose  mind  has  not  been  enriched  by  his 
speeches  and  orations.  His  speeches  are  destined  to  do  more  to  pro- 
mote the  great  objects  of  education,  to  form  correct  habits  of  thinking 
and  speaking,  and  to  put  the  rising  American  race  in  possession  of  a 
chastened,  eloquent,  powerful,  literature,  than  any  other  instrumen- 
tality of  the  nineteenth  century.'' — Rev.  Hubbard  Winslow. 

"His  speech  had  strength,  force  and  dignity;  his  composition  was 
clear,  rational,  strengthened  by  a  powerful  imagination— in  his  great 
orations  'the  lightning  of  passion  running  along  the  iron  links  of  ar- 
gument.' The  one  lesson  which  they  teach  to  the  youth  of  America  is 
self-respect,  a  manly  consciousness  of  power,  expressed  simply  and 
directly — to  look  for  the  substantial  qualities  of  the  thing,  and  utter 
them  distinctly  as  they  are  felt  intensely.  This  was  the  sum  of  theart 
which  Webster  used  in  his  orations." — E.  A.  Duyckinck. 

"WEBSTER'S  style  is  remarkable  for  clearness  of  statement.  It  is 
singularly  emphatic.  It  is  impressive  rather  than  brilliant,  and  occa- 
sionally rises  to  absolute  grandeur.  It  is  evidently  formed  on  the 
higher  English  models;  and  the  reader  conjectures  his  love  of  Milton 
from  the  noble  simplicity  of  his  language.  Independent  of  their  logi- 
cal and  rhetorical  merit,  these  orations  are  invaluable  from  the  nation- 
ality of  their  tone  and  spirit.  They  awaken  patriotic  reflection  and 
sentiment,  and  are  better  adapted  to  warn,  to  enlighten,  and  to  cheer 
the  consciousness  of  the  citizen,  than  any  American  works,  of  a  didac- 
tic kind,  yet  produced." — H.  T.  Tuckerman. 

"  HE  was  probably  the  grandest  looking  man  of  his  time.  Wherever 
he  went,  men  turned  to  gaze  at  him  ;  and  he  could  not  enter  a  room 
without  having  every  eye  fastened  upon  him.  His  face  wasvery  strik- 
ing, both  in  form  and  color.  The  eyebrow,  the  eye,  and  the  dark  and 
deep  socket  in  which  it  glowed,  were  full  of  power.  His  smile  wns 
beaming,  warming,  fascinating;  lighting  up  his  whole  face  like  a  sud- 
den sunrise.  His  voice  was  rich,  deep,  and  strong,  filling  the  largest 
space  without  effort,  and  when  under  excitement,  rising  and  swel- 
ling into  a  violence  of  sound,  like  the  roar  of  a  tempest."— George  & 
HUliard. 

5 


REFERENCES. 

THE  ablest  and  most  complete  life  of  Daniel  Webster  is  that  written 
by  George  T.  Curtis.  It  is  full  of  most  interesting  material.  The  most 
scholarly  article  on  Webster  is  the  eulogy  delivered  by  George  S.  Hil- 
llard.  For  a  compact  and  interesting  life,  read  Lodge's  Webster  in  the 
"  American  Statesmen  Series."  A  valuable  and  suggestive  essay  has 
been  written  by  E.  P.  Whipple  and  serves  as  an  introduction  to  his 
"Webster's  Great  Speeches."  The  last  mentioned  work  is  the  best 
and  most  complete  of  the  various  compilations  of  'Webster's  works. 
Harvey's  Reminiscences  of  Webster  and  March's  Reminiscences  in  Con- 
gress are  interesting  works  for  general  reading.  Tefft's  Webster  and  his 
-Master-pieces,  Banvard's  The  American  Statesman  and  Harsha's  Orators 
and  Statesmen  contain  much  popular  and  interesting  matter. 

WHAT  TO  READ   OF  WEBSTER. 

THE  student  who  wishes  to  become  familiar  with  the  works  of  Web- 
ster should  secure  a  copy  of  '\\"hipple's  Great  Speeches  and  Orations  of 
Webster  and  mark  with  pencil  the  best  passages  in  several  speeches. 
The  "  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Orations"  are  well  adapted  to  elemen- 
tary study.  Extracts  from  the  argument  on  the  "Murder  of  Capt. 
Joseph  White,"  especially  the  famous  preliminary  remarks,  are  of 
absorbing  interest.  The  Plymouth  oration,  on  the  "  First  Settlement 
of  New  England,"  has  been  called  a  series  of  eloquent  fragments.  The 
thoughts  are  fine,  and  are  expressed  in  simple  and  beautiful  words. 
The  celebrated  eulogy  upon  "Adams  and  Jefferson,''  the  speeches  on 
the  "Character  of  Washington,"  the  "Landing  at  Plymouth,"  and  the 
"Addition  to  the  Capitol,''  should  form  apartof  the  education  of  every 
American  school-boy.  Next  read  Mr.  Webster's  remarks  on  the  death 
of  Judge  Story  and  of  Jeremiah  Mason,  and  finally  the  speech  on  laying 
the  corner-stone  for  the  addition  to  the  Capitol  in  1851.  Of  Webster's 
speeches  in  the  United  States  Senate,  the  student  should  become 
familiar  with  portions  of  the  "Reply  to  Hayne."  It  is  one  of  those 
grand  speeches  which  are  landmarks  in  the  history  of  eloquence.  The 
speech  as  a  whole  has  all  the  qualities  which  made  Mr.  Webster  a  great 
orator.  He  said  that  his  whole  life  had  been  a  preparation  for  the  reply 
to  Hayne.  After  selections  from  these  orations  and  speeches  have  been 
studied,  over  and  over  again,  the  student  will  be  well  prepared  to  con- 
tinue his  studies  in  Webster  with  the  strictly  parliamentary  speeches 
and  discussions  which  have  become  a  part  of  the  intellectual  life  of 
the  country. 

WEBSTER  AS  A  MASTER  OF  ENGLISH  STYLE. 

WEBSTER  ranks  high  among  the  prose  writers  of  the  country  as  a 
master  of  English  style.  Like  his  oratory,  his  composition  is  plain, 
natural,  easy,  strong,  dignified,  and  sometimes  very  lofty.  His 
diction  is  entirely  English.  His  words  are  the  commonest  in  the  lan- 
guage. They  are  those  that  we  use  in  our  own  homes,  and  when  talk- 
ing with  every -day  friends.  He  had  a  powerful  historic  imagination. 
and  could  describe  with  great  vividness,  brevity,  and  force  what  had 
happened  in  the  past  or  might  happen  in  the  dim  future.  As  a  rule, 
his  sentences  are  short,  pointed,  and  easily  understood.  Mr.  Webster 
was  a  severe  critic  of  his  own  style,  sparing  neither  time  or  pains 
in  revising  and  correcting  his  written  orations.  Aside  from  their 
profound  thought  and  glowing  patriotism,  his  great  speeches  can 
be  read  and  studied  to-day  for  their  style  alone,  with  the  deepest 
interest,  instruction,  and  pleasure.  The  young  man  who  is  training 
himself  to  think  and  speak  on  his  feet  should  study  Webster  if  he 
would  attain  to  a  perfect  clearness  of  statement,  joined  to  the  highest 
skill  in  argument.  He  who  would  become  a  skilled  debater  and  is 
ambitious  "to learn  the  science  of  logical  defence  "  should  study  the 
productions  of  this  great  muster  of  eloquence  uut.il  they  become  part 
and  parcel  of  his  own  intellectual  capital. 

6 


THE  BUNKEK  HILL  MONUMENT. 

An  address  delivered  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  Hunker  Hill 
Monument  at  Charlestown,  Mass.,  on  the  17th  of  June,  1825. 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

IT  was  during  the  interim  of  his  first  and  second  appearance  as  a  rep- 
resentative from  Massachusetts  that  Mr.  Webster  pronounced  his  first 
oration  at  Bunker  Hill,  on  the  occasion  of  laying  the  corner-stone  of 
the  monument  to  be  there  erected.  Such  a  monument  had  long  been 
contemplated.  An  association  for  the  erection  of  a  monument  to  com- 
memorate the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  had  been  for  some  time  in  existence 
in  Boston,  of  which  Mr.  Webster  was  at  this  time  president.  As  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  battle  approached — the  17th  of  June,  1825 — 
it  was  determined  that  the  corner-stone  of  the  monument  should  be 
laid  on  that  day  with  appropriate  ceremonies.  Mr.  Webster  was 
unanimously  requested  by  his  fellow-trustees  to  deliver  the  address. 
General  Lafayette  was  then  making  that  tour  through  the  United 
States  which  became,  in  its  progress,  the  most  remarkable  ovation  ever 
given  in  this  country  to  any  man,  and  the  arrangements  of  his  journey 
were  so  made  as  to  admit  of  his  being  present  on  this  occasion.  Every- 
thing conspired  to  make  the  day  memorable.  "  The  morning,"  says 
Mr.  Frothingham  in  his  History  of  the  Siege  of  Boston,  "proved  propi- 
tious. The  air  was  cool,  the  sky  was  clear,  and  timely  showers  the 
previous  day  had  brightened  the  verdure  into  its  loveliest  hue.  De- 
lighted thousands  flocked  into  Boston  to  bear  a  part  in  the  proceedings, 
or  to  witness  the  spectacle.  At  about  ten  o'clock,  the  procession  moved 
from  the  State  House  toward  Bunker  Hill.  It  was  a  splendid  proces- 
sion, and  of  such  length  that  the  front  nearly  reached  Charlestown 
Bridge,  ere  the  rear  h  ad  left  Boston  Common.  It  proceeded  to  Breed's 
Hill,  where  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Freemasons,  the  President  of  tho 
Monument  Association,  and  General  Lafayette,  performed  the  cere- 
mony of  laying  the  corner-stone  in  presence  of  a  vast  concourse  of 
people."  "The  procession  then  moved,"  says  Edward  Everett,  "to a 
spacious  amphitheater,  on  the  northern  declivity  of  the  hill,  where 
the  address  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Webster,  in  the  presence  of  as  great  a 
multitude  as  was  ever,  perhaps,  assembled  within  the  sound  of  a  human 
voice."  This  address,  the  text  of  which  is  given  in  the  succeeding 
pages,  was  received  with  unbounded  enthusiasm  and  has  long  been 

7 


8  THE    BUNKER    HILL 

accepted  as  a  master-piece  of  oratory.  It  should  be  read  and  re-read, 
and  its  best  portions  committed  to  memory,  by  every  advanced  student 
in  our  schools. 

The  editor  has  been  obliged  to  omit  such  passages  as  are  not  of  gen- 
eral interest.    The  wording  has  not  been  changed. 


1.  THIS  uncounted  multitude  before  me  and  around  me 
proves  the  feeling  which  the  occasion  has  excited.    These 
thousands  of  human  faces,  glowing  with  sympathy  and  joy, 
and  from  the  impulses  of  a  common  gratitude  turned  rever- 
ently to  heaven  in  this  spacious  temple  of  the  firmament, 
proclaim  that  the  day,  the  place,  and  the  purpose  of  our 
assembling  have  made  a  deep  impression  on  our  hearts. 

2.  If,  indeed,  there  be  anything  in  local  association  fit  to 
affect  the  mind  of  man,  we  need  not  strive  to  repress  the 
emotions  which  agitate  us  here.    We  are  among  the  sepul- 
chres of  our  fathers.    We  are  on  ground,  distinguished  by 
their  valor,  their  constancy,  and  the  shedding  of   their 
blood.    "NVe  are  here,  not  to  fix  an  uncertain  date  in  our 
annals,  nor  draw  into  notice  an  obscure  and  unknown  spot. 
If  our  humble  purpose  had  never  been  conceived,  if  we 
ourselves  had  never  been  born,  the  17th  of  June,  1775,  would 
have  been  a  day  on  which  all  subsequent  history  would 
have  poured  its  light,  and  the  eminence  where  we  stand  a 
point  of  attraction  to  the  eyes  of  successive  generations. 
But  we  are  Americans.    We  live  in  what  may  be  called  the 
early  age  of  this  great  Continent ;  and  we  know  that  our 
posterity,  through  all  time,  are  here  to  enjoy  and  suffer  the 
allotments  of  humanity.    We  see  before  us  a  probable  train 
of  great  events  ;  we  know  that  our  own  fortunes  have  been 
happily  cast ;  and  it  is  natural,  therefore,  that  we  should  be 
moved  by  the  contemplation  of  occurrences  which  have 
guided  our  destiny  before  many  of  us  were  born,  and  settled 
the  condition  in  which  we  should  pass  that  portion  of  our 
existence  which  God  allows  to  men  on  earth. 

3.  We  do  not  read  even  of  the  discovery  of  this  Continent, 
without  feeling  something  of   a  personal  interest  in  the 
event ;  without  being  reminded  how  much  it  has  affected 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS. 

our  own  fortunes  and  our  own  existence.  It  would  be  still 
more  unnatural  for  us,  therefore,  than  for  others,  to  con- 
template with  unaffected  minds  that  interesting,  I  may  say 
that  most  touching  and  pathetic  scene,  when  the  great  dis- 
coverer of  America1  stood  on  the  deck  of  his  shattered  bark, 
the  shades  of  night  falling  on  the  sea,  yet  no  man  sleeping ; 
tossed  on  the  billows  of  an  unknown  ocean,  yet  the  stronger 
billows  of  alternate  hope  and  despair  tossing  his  own 
troubled  thoughts  :  extending  forward  his  harassed  frame, 
straining  westward  his  anxious  and  eager  eyes,  till  Heaven 
at  last  granted  him  a  moment  of  rapture  and  ecstasy,  in 
blessing  his  vision  with  the  sight  of  the  unknown  world. 

4.  Nearer  to  our  times,  more  closely  connected  with  pur 
fates,  and  therefore  still  more  interesting  to  our  feelings  and 
affections,  is  the  settlement  of  our  own  country  by  colonists 
from  England.  We  cherish  every  memorial  of  these  worthy 
ancestors  ;  we  celebrate  their  patience  and  fortitude  ;  we 
admire  their  daring  enterprise ;  we  teach  our  children  to 
venerate  their  piety  ;  and  we  are  justly  proud  of  being  de- 
scended from  men  who  have  set  the  world  an  example  of 
founding  civil  institutions  on  the  great  and  united  principles 
of  human  freedom  and  human  knowledge.  To  us,  their 
children,  the  story  of  their  labors  and  sufferings  can  never 
be  without  interest.  We  shall  not  stand  unmoved  on  the 
shore  of  Plymouth,2  while  the  sea  continues  to  wash  it ;  nor 
will  our  brethren  in  another  early  and  ancient  Colony  forget 
the  place  of  its  first  establishment,  till  their  river  shall  cease 
to  flow  by  it.3  No  vigor  of  youth,  no  maturity  of  manhood, 
will  lead  the  nation  to  forget  the  spots  where  its  infancy  was 
cradled  and  defended. 


1.  Great  discoverer  of  America.— Read  full  details  of  this  anxious 
night  passed  on  board  of  the  little  vessel  of  Columbus  as  given  in 
Irving's  Life  of  Columbus. 

2.  On  the"  Shore  of  Plymouth. — In  this  connection  read  selections  from 
Webster's  grand  oration  on  the  "First  Settlement  of  New  England," 
delivered  at  Plymouth,  December  22,  1820;  also  from  his  speech  on 
"The  Landing  at  Plymouth,"  delivered  December  22, 1S43. 

3.  An  interesting  account  of  the  voyage  of  the  early  emigrants  to  the 
Maryland  Colony,  and  of  its  settlement,  is  given  in  the  official  report 
of  Father  White,  written  probably  within  the  first  month  after  the 
landing  at  St,  Mary's,    The  original  Latin  manuscript  is  still  preserved 


10  THE    BUNKER   HILL 

5.  But  the  great  event  in  the  history  of  the  Continent, 
which  we  are  now  met  here  to  commemorate,  that  prodigy 
of  modern  times,  at  once  the  wonder  and  the  blessing  of  the 
world,  is  the  American  Revolution.     In  a  day  of  extraordi- 
nary prosperity  and  happiness,  of  high  national  honor,  dis- 
tinction, and  power,  we  are  brought  together,  in  this  place, 
by  our  love  of  country,  by  our  admiration  of  exalted  character, 
by  our  gratitude  for  signal  services  and  patriotic  devotion. 

6.  The  Society  whose  organ  I  am*  was  formed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  rearing  some  honorable  and  durable  monument  to 
the  memory  of  the  early  friends  of  American  Independence. 
They  have  thought,  that  for  this  object  no  time  could  be 
more  propitious  than  the  present  prosperous  and  peaceful 
period ;   that   no   place  could  claim  preference  over  this 
memorable  spot ;  and  that  no  day  could  be  more  auspicious 
to  the  undertaking,  than  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  which 
was  here  fought.     The  foundation  of  that  monument  we 
have  now  laid.    With  solemnities  suited  to  the  occasion, 
with  prayers  to  Almighty  God  for  his  blessing,  and  in  the 
midst  of  this  cloud  of  witnesses,  we  have  begun  the  work. 
We  trust  it  will  be  prosecuted,  and  that,  springing  from  a 
broad  foundation,  rising  high  in  massive  solidity  and  un- 
adorned grandeur,  it  may  remain  as  long  as  Heaven  permits 
the  works  of  man  to  last,  a  fit  emblem,  both  of  the  events  in 
memory  of  which  it  is  raised,  and  of  the  gratitude  of  those 
who  have  reared  it. 

7.  We  know,  indeed,  that  the  record  of  illustrious  actions 
is  most  safely  deposited  in  the  universal  remembrance  of 
mankind.    We  know,  that  if  we  could  cause  this  structure 
to  ascend,  not  only  till  it  reached  the  skies,  but  till  it  pierced 
them,  its  broad  surfaces  could  still  contain  but  part  of  that 
which,  in  an  age  of  knowledge,  hath  already  been  spread 


among  the  archives  of  the  Jesuits  at  Rome.  The  Ark  and  the 
Dave  are  remembered  with  scarcely  less  interest  by  the  descendants 
of  the  sister  colony,  than  is  the  Mayflower  in  New  England,  which 
thirteen  years  earlier,  at  the  same  season  of  the  year,  bore  thither  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers. 

4.  Mr.  Webster  was  at  this  time  President  of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monu 
ment  Association, 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  11 

over  the  earth,  and  which  history  charges  itself  with  mak- 
ing known  to  all  future  times.  We  know  that  no  inscrip- 
tion on  entablatures  less  broad  than  the  earth  itself  can  carry 
information  of  the  events  we  commemorate  where  it  has 
not  already  gone  ;  and  that  no  structure,  which  shall  not 
outlive  the  duration  of  letters  and  knowledge  among  men, 
can  prolong  the  memorial.  But  our  object  is,  by  this  edifice, 
to  show  our  own  deep  sense  of  the  value  and  importance  of 
the  achievments  of  our  ancestors  ;  and,  by  presenting  this 
work  of  gratiiude  to  the  eye,  to  keep  alive  similar  senti- 
ments, and  to  footer  a  constant  regard  for  the  principles  of 
the  Revolution. ,'  Human  beings  are  composed,  not  of  reason 
only,  but  of  imagination  also,  and  sentiment ;  and  that  is 
neither  wasted  nor  misapplied  which  is  appropriated  to  the 
purpose  of  giving  right  direction  to  sentiments,  and  opening 
proper  springs  of  feeling  in  the  heart.^J  Let  it  not  be  sup- 
posed that  our  object  is  to  perpetuate  national  hostility,  or 
even  to  cherish  a  mere  military  spirit.  It  is  higher,  purer, 
nobler.  We  consecrate  our  work  to  the  spirit  of  national 
independence,  and  we  wish  that  the  light  of  peace  may  rest 
upon  it  for  ever.  We  rear  a  memorial  of  our  convic- 
tion of  that  unmeasured  benefit  which  has  been  con- 
ferred on  our  own  land,  and  of  the  happy  influences 
which  have  been  produced,  by  the  same  events,  on  the 
general  interests  of  mankind.  We  come,  as  Americans,  to 
mark  a  spot  which  must  for  ever  be  dear  to  us  and  our  pos- 
terity. We  wish  that  whosoever,  in  all  coming  time,  shall 
turn  his  eye  hither,  may  behold  that  the  place  is  not  undis- 
tinguished where  the  first  great  battle  of  the  Revolution 
was  fought.  We  wish  that  this  structure  may  proclaim  the 
magnitude  and  importance  of  that  event  to  every  class  and 
every  age.  We  wish  that  infancy  may  learn  the  purpose  of 
its  erection  from  maternal  lips,  and  that  weary  and  withered 
age  may  behold  it,  and  be  solaced  by  the  recollections  which 
it-suggests.  We  wish  that  labor  may  look  up  here,  and  be 
proud,  in  the  midst  of  its  toil.  We  wish  that,  in  those  days 
of  disaster,  which,  as  they  come  upon  all  nations,  must  be 
expected  to  come  upon  us  also,  desponding  patriotism  may 


12  THE   BUXKER   HILL 

turn  its  eyes  hitherward,  and  be  assured  that  the  founda- 
tions of  our  national  power  are  still  strong.  We  -wish  that 
this  column,  rising  towards  heaven  among  the  pointed  spires 
of  so  many  temples  dedicated  to  God,  may  contribute  also 
to  produce,  in  all  minds,  a  pious  feeling  of  dependence  and 
gratitude.  We  wish,  finally,  that  the  last  object  to  the  sight 5 
of  him  who  leaves  his  native  shore,  and  the  first  to  gladden 
him  who  revisits  it,  may  be  something  which  shall  remind 
him  of  the  liberty  and  glory  of  his  country.  Let  it  rise  !  let 
it  rise,  till  it  meet  the  sun  in  his  coming  ;  let  the  earliest 
light  of  the  morning  gild  it,  and  parting  day  linger  and  play 
on  its  summit. 

8.  We  live  in  a  most  extraordinary  age.  Events  so  various 
and  so  important  that  they  might  crowd  and  distinguish 
centuries  are,  in  our  times,  compressed  within  the  compass 
of  a  single  life.  /When  has  it  happened  that  history  has 
had  so  much  to  record,  in  the  same  term  of  years,  as  since 
the  17th  of  June,  1775?  Our  own  Revolution,  which,  under 
other  circumstances,  might  itself  have  been  expected  to 
occasion  a  war  of  half  a  century,  has  been  achieved  ;  twenty- 
four  sovereign  and  independent  States  erected  ;  and  a  general 
government  established  over  them,  so  safe,  so  wise,  so  free, 
so  practical,  that  we  might  well  wonder  its  establishment 
should  have  been  accomplished  so  soon,  were  it  not  far  the 
greater  wonder  that  it  should  have  been  established  at  all. 
Two  or  three  millions  of  people  have  been  augmented  to 
twelve,  the  great  forests  of  the  West  prostrated  beneath  the 
arm  of  successful  industry,  and  the  dwellers  on  the  banks 
of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  become  the  fellow-citizens 
and  neighbors  of  those  who  cultivate  the  hills  of  New 
England.6  We  have  a  commerce  that  leaves  no  sea  un- 


5.  Last  object  to  the  sight.— The  orator's  wish  has  been  granted.   This 
grand  monument  has  been  all  these  years  literally  a  landmark  ever  to 
be  remembered  by  every  American  as  he  enters  or  leaves  Boston 
Harbor. 

6.  That  which  was  spoken  of  figuratively  in  1825  has,  in  the  lapse  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  by  the  introduction  of  railroads  and  telegraphic 
lines,  become  a  reality.    It  is  an  interesting  circumstance,  that  the  first 
railroad  on  the  Western  Continent  was  constructed  for  the  purpose  of 
accelerating  the  erection  of  this  monument,— Edward  Everett,  w!850. 


MONUMENT  ORATIONS.  13 

explored  ;  navies,  which  take  no  law  from  superior  force ; 
revenues,  adequate  to  all  the  exigencies  of  government, 
almost  without  taxation  ;  and  peace  with  all  nations,  founded 
on  equal  rights  and  mutual  respect. 

9.  Europe,  within  the  same  period,  has  been  agitated  by  a 
mighty  revolution,  which,  while  it  has  been  felt  in  the  in- 
dividual condition  and  happiness  of  almost  every  man,  has 
shaken  to  the  centre  her  political  fabric,  and  dashed  against 
one  another  thrones  which  had  stood  tranquil  for  ages.    On 
this,  our  Continent,  our  own  example  has  been  followed, 
and  colonies  have  sprung  up  to  be  nations.     Unaccustomed 
sounds  of  liberty  and  free  government  have  reached  us  from 
beyond  the  track  of  the  sun  ;  and  at  this  moment  the  do- 
minion of  European  power  in  this  Continent,  from  the  place 
where  we  stand  to  the  south  pole,  is  annihilated  for  ever.7 

10.  In  the  mean  time,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  such 
has  been  the  general  progress  of  knowledge,  such  the  im- 
provement in  legislation,  in  commerce,  in  the  arts,  in  letters, 
and,  above  all,  in  liberal  ideas  and  the  general  spirit  of  the 
age,  that  the  whole  world  seems  changed. 

11.  Yet,  notwithstanding  that  this  is  but  a  faint  abstract 
of  the  things  which  have  happened  since  the  day  of  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  we  are  but  fifty  years  removed  from 
it  ;8  and  we  now  stand  here  to  enjoy  all  the  blessings  of  our 
own  condition,  and  to  look  abroad  on  the  brightened  pros- 
pects of  the  world,  while  we  still  have  among  us  some  of 
those  who  were  active  agents  in  the  scenes  of  1775,  and  who 
are  now  here  from  every  quarter  of  New  England,  to  visit 
one  more,  and   under   circumstances  so  affecting,   I  had 
almost  said  so  overwhelming,  this  renowned  theatre  of  their 
courage  and  patriotism. 

- — 12.  Venerable  men  !9  you  have  come  dowrn  to  us  from  a 

7.  See  President  Monroe's  Message  to  Congress,  in  1823,  and  Mr.  Web- 
ster's speech  on  the  Panama  Mission,  in  1826. 

8.  Fifty  years  removed  from  it. — It  will  be  interesting  for  the  student 
to  compare  the  growth  and  development  of  the  country  at  the  end  of 
the  century  in  1875  and  that  of  1775  and  1825.    What  marked  changes 
even  since  1875? 

9.  Venerable  men.— This  famous  passage  was  composed  while  Mr. 
Webster  was  trout  fishing  on  Cape  Cod.    For  once,  the  great  orator  was 


14  THE  BUNKER   HILL 

former  generation.  Heaven  has  bounteously  lengthened 
out  your  lives,  that  you  might  behold  this  joyous  day.  You 
are  now  where  you  stood  fifty  years  ago,  this  very  hour, 
with  your  brothers  and  your  neighbors,  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
in  the  strife  for  your  country.  Behold,  how  altered !  The 
same  heavens  are  indeed  over  your  heads  ;  the  same  ocean 
rolls  at  your  feet ;  but  all  else  how  changed  !  You  hear  now 
no  roar  of  hostile  cannon,  you  see  no  mixed  volumes  of 
smoke  and  flame  rising  from  burning  Charlestown.  The 
ground  strewed  with  the  dead  and  the  dying ;  the  im- 
petuous charge  ;  the  steady  and  successful  repulse  ;  the  loud 
call  to  repeated  assault ;  the  summoning  of  all  that  is  manly 
to  repeated  resistance  ;  a  thousand  bosoms  freely  and  fear- 
lessly bared  in  an  instant  to  whatever  of  terror  there  may 
be  in  war  and  death  ;— all  these  you  have  witnessed,  but 
you  witness  them  no  more.  All  is  peace.  The  heights  of 
yonder  metropolis,  its  towers  and  roofs,  which  you  then  saw 
filled  wyith  wives  and  children  and  countrymen  in  distress 
and  terror,  and  looking  with  unutterable  emotions  for  the 
issue  of  the  combat,  have  presented  you  to-day  with  the 
sight  of  the  whole  happy  population,  come  out  to  welcome 
and  greet  you  with  a  universal  jubilee.  Yonder  proud  ships, 
by  a  felicity  of  position  appropriately  lying  at  the  foot  of 
this  mount,  and  seeming  fondly  to  cling  around  it,  are  not 
means  of  annoyance  to  you,  but  your  country's  own  means 
of  distinction  and  defence.10  All  is  peace  ;  and  God  has 
granted  you  this  sight  of  your  country's  happiness,  ere  you 
slumber  in  the  grave.  He  has  allowed  you  to  behold  and 
to  partake  the  reward  of  your  patriotic  toils  ;  and  he  has 
allowed  us,  your  sons  and  countrymen,  to  meet  you  here, 

indifferent  to  his  favorite  sport.  In  fact,  as  he  states  in  his  "Auto- 
biography," he  composed  a  great  portion  of  his  Bunker  Hill  address 
while  middle  deep  in  Marshpee  River,  waiting  for  the  trout  to  bite. 
His  son  tells  us  how  he  quietly  walked  up  near  his  father  and  over- 
heard him  rehearsing  the  passage  beginning:  "Venerable  men,''  etc. 
Many  of  Webster's  orations  were  chiefly  composed  before  they  were 
committed  to  paper.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  preparing  formal  speeches 
in  the  woods  and  especially  while  fishing. 

10.  It  is  necessary  to  inform  those  only  who  are  acquainted  with  the 
localities,  that  the'United  States  Navy  Yard  at  Charlestown  is  situated 
at  the  base  of  Bunker  Hill. 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  15 

and  in  the  name  of  the  present  generation,  in  the  name  of 
your  country,  in  the  name  of  liberty,  to  thank  you  ! 

13.  But,  alas  !_you  are  not  all  here  !"  Time  and  the  sword 
have  thinned  your  ranks.  Prescott,  Putnam,  Stark,  Brooks, 
Read,  Pomeroy,  Bridge  !  our  eyes  seek  for  you  in  vain  amid 
this  broken  band.  You  are  gathered  to  your  fathers,  and 
live  only  to  your  country  in  her  grateful  remembrance  and 
your  own  bright  example.  But  let  us  not  too  much  grieve, 
that  you  have  met  the  common  fate  of  men.  You  lived  at 
least  long  enough  to  know  that  yoHr  work  had  been  nobly 
and  successfully  accomplished.  You  lived  to  see  your 
country's  independence  established,  and  to  sheathe  your 
swords  from  war.  On  the  light  of  Liberty  you  saw  arise 
the  light  of  peace,  like 

"another  morn, 
Risen  on  mid-ocean  " ; 

and  the  sky  on  which  you  closed  your  eyes  was  cloudless. 
^  14.  But,  ah  !  Him  !  the  first  great  martyr13  in  this  great 
cause  !  Him !  the  premature  victim  of  his  own  self-devot- 
ing heart !  Him !  the  head  of  our  civil  councils,  and  the 
destined  leader  of  our  military  bands,  whom  nothing 
brought  hither  but  the  unquenchable  fire  of  his  own  spirit ! 
Him  !  cut  off  by  Providence  in  the  hour  of  oyerwhelming 
anxiety  and  thick  gloom  ;  falling  ere  he  saw  the  star  of  his 
country  rise  ;  pouring  out  his  generous  blood  like  water,  be- 
fore he  knew  whether  it  would  fertilize  a  land  of  freedom 
or  of  bondage ! — how  shall  I  struggle  with  the  emotions 
that  stifle  the  utterance  of  thy  name  !  Our  poor  work  may 
perish ;  but  thine  shall  endure !  This  monument  may 

11.  Not  all  here.— About  two  hundred  veterans  of  the  Revolution,  of 
whom  forty  survivors  of  the  battle,  rode  in  barouches  next  to  the 
escort.    These  veterans  were  seated  directly  before  Webster  as  he  de- 
livered this  celebrated  passage.    "These  venerable  men,"  says  Mr. 
Frothingham,  "the  relics  of  a  past  generation,  with  emaciated  frames, 
tottering  limbs,  and  trembling  voices  constituted  a  touching  spec- 
tacle." 

12.  The  first  great  martyr,  etc.— Reference  is  made  to  General  Joseph 
Warren  who  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.    How  much  this 
patriot  contributed  by  his  voice  and  his  pen,  as  well  as  his  sword,  to 
his  country's  cause  before  his  untimely  death  is  well  known  to  every 
reader  of  American  history. 


16  THE    BUNKER   HILL 

moulder  away ;  the  solid  ground  it  rests  upon  may  sink 
down  to  a  level  with  the  sea  ;  but  thy  memory  shall  not 
fail !  Wheresoever  among  men  a  heart  shall  be  found  that 
beats  to  the  transports  of  patriotism  and  liberty,  its  aspira- 
tions shall  be  to  claim  kindred  with  thy  spirit. 

15.  But  the  scene  amidst  which  we  stand  does  not  permit 
us  to  confine  our  thoughts  or  our  sympathies  to  those  fear- 
less spirits  who  hazarded  or  lost  their  lives  on  this  consecrated 
spot.   We  have  the  happiness  to  rejoice  here  in  the  presence 
of  a  most  worthy  representation  of  the  survivors  of  the 
whole  Revolutionary  army. 

16.  Veterans  !  you  are  the  remnant  of  many  a  well-fought 
field.     You  bring  with  you  marks  of  honor  from  Trenton 
and  Monmouth,  from  Yorktown,  Camden,  Bennington,  and 
Saratoga.     Veterans  of  half  a  century  !  when  in  your  youth- 
ful days  you  put  everything  at  hazard  in  your  country's 
cause,  good  as  that  cause  was,  and  sanguine  as  youth  is, 
still  your  fondest  hopes  did  not  stretch  onward  to  an  hour 
like  this  !    At  a  period  to  which  you  could  not  reasonably 
have  expected  to  arrive,  at  a  moment  of  national  prosperity 
such  as  you  could  never  have  foreseen,  you  are  now  met 
here  to  enjoy  the  fellowship  of  old  soldiers,  and  to  receive 
the  overflowings  of  a  universal  gratitude. 

17.  But  your  agitated  countenances  and    your  heaving 
breasts  inform  me  that  even  this  is  not  an  unmixed  joy.     I 
perceive  that  a  tumult  of  contending  feelings  rushes  upon 
you.     The  images  of  the  dead,  as  well  as  the  persons  of  the 
living,   present  themselves  before  you.      The  scene  over- 
whelms you,  and  I  turn  from  it.     May  the  Father  of  all 
mercies  smile  upon  your  declining  years,  and  bless  them  ! 
And  when  you  shall  here  have  exchanged  your  embraces, 
when  you  shall  once  more  have  pressed  the  hands  which 
have  been  so  often  extended  to  give  succor  in  adversity,  or 
grasped  in  the  exultation  of  victory,  then  look  abroad  upon 
this  lovely  land  which  your  young  valor  defended,  and 
mark  the  happiness  with  which  it  is  filled  ;  yea,  look  abroad 
upon  the  whole  earth,  and  see  what  a  name  you  have  con- 
tributed to  give  your  country,  and  what  a  praise  you  have 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  17 

added  to  freedom,  and  then  rejoice  in  the  sympathy  and 
gratitude  which  beam  upon  your  last  days  from  the  im- 
proved condition  of  mankind  ! 

18.  The  occasion  does  not  require  of  me  any  particular 
account  of  the  battle  of  the  17th  of  June,  1775,  nor  any  de- 
tailed narrative  of  the  events  which  immediately  preceded 
it.13  These  are  familiarly  known  to  all.  In  the  progress  of 
the  great  and  interesting  controversy,  Massachusetts  and 
the  town  of  Boston  had  become  early  and  marked  objects 
of  the  displeasure  of  the  British  Parliament.  This  had  been 
manifested  in  the  act  for  altering  the  government  of  the 
Province,  and  in  that  for  shutting  up  the  port  of  Boston. 
Nothing  sheds  more  honor  on  our  early  history,  and  noth- 
ing better  shows  how  little  the  feelings  and  sentiments  of 
the  Colonies  were  known  or  regarded  in  England,  than  the 
impression  which  these  measures  everywhere  produced  in 
America.  It  had  been  anticipated,  that,  while  the  Colonies 
in  general  would  be  terrified  by  the  severity  of  the  punish- 
ment inflicted  on  Massachusetts,  the  other  seaports  would 
be  governed  by  a  mere  spirit  of  gain  ;  and  that,  as  Boston 
was  now  cut  off  from  all  commerce,  the  unexpected  advan- 
tage wThich  this  blow  on  her  was  calculated  to  confer  on 
other  towns  would  be  greatly  enjoyed.  How  miserably 
such  reasoners  deceived  themselves  !  How  little  they  knew 
of  the  depth,  and  the  strength,  and  the  intenseness  of  that 
feeling  of  resistance  to  illegal  acts  of  power,  which  possessed 
the  whole  American  people  !  Everywhere  the  unworthy 
boon  was  rejected  with  scorn.  The  fortunate  occasion  was 
seized,  everywhere,  to  show  to  the  whole  world  that  the 
Colonies  were  SMrayed  by  no  local  interest,  no  partial  in- 
terest, no  selfish  interest.  The  temptation  to  profit  by  the 
punishment  of  Boston  was  strongest  to  our  neighbors  of 
Salem.14  Yet  Salem  was  precisely  the  place  where  this 

13.  Events  which  preceded  it. — The  student  should  re-read  the  story 
of  this  period  of  American  history  in  connection  with  the  study  of  this 
portion  of  the  oration.    "  The  causes  of  the  American  Revolution"  is 
a  fruitful  theme  for  collateral  reading  in  this  connection. 

14.  Salem.— Before  the  Revolution  and  shortly  after,  the  commerce  of 
Salem  was  of  considerable  importance. 


18  THE    BUNKER    HILL 

miserable  proffer  was  spurned,  in  a  tone  of  the  most  lofty 
self-respect  and  the  most  indignant  patriotism.  "We  are 
deeply  affected,"  said  its  inhabitants,  "with  the  sense  of 
our  public  calamities  ;  but  the  miseries  that  are  now  rapidly 
hastening  on  our  brethren  in  the  capital  of  the  Province 
greatly  excite  our  commiseration.  By  shutting  up  the  port 
of  Boston  some  imagine  that  the  course  of  trade  might  be 
turned  hither  and  to  our  benefit ;  but  we  must  be  dead  to 
every  idea  of  justice,  lost  to  every  feeling  of  humanity,  could 
we  indulge  a  thought  to  seize  on  wealth  and  raise  our  for- 
tunes on  the  ruin  of  our  suffering  neighbors."  These  noble 
sentiments  were  not  confined  to  our  immediate  vicinity.  In 
that  day  of  general  affection  and  brotherhood,  the  blow 
given  to  Boston  smote  on  every  patriotic  heart  from  one 
end  of  the  country  to  the  other.  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas, 
as  well  as  Connecticut  and  Xew  Hampshire,  felt  and  pro- 
claimed the  cause  to  be  their  own.  The  Continental  Con- 
gress, then  holding  its  first  session  in  Philadelphia,  ex- 
pressed its  sympathy  for  the  suffering  inhabitants  of  Boston, 
and  addresses  were  received  from  all  quarters,  assuring  them 
that  the  cause  was  a  common  one,  and  should  be  met  by 
common  efforts  and  common  sacrifices.  The  Congress  of 
Massachusetts  responded  to  these  assurances  ;  and  in  an  ad- 
dress to  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  bearing  the  official 
signature,  perhaps  among  the  last,  of  the  immortal  Warren, 
notwithstanding  the  severity  of  its  suffering  and  the  magni- 
tude of  the  dangers  which  threatened  it,  it  was  declared, 
that  this  Colony,  "  Is  ready,  at  all  times,  to  spend  and  to  be 
spent  in  the  cause  of  America." 

19.  But  the  hour  drew  nigh  which  was  to  put  professions 
to  the  proof,  and  to  determine  whether  the  authors  of  these 
mutual  pledges  were  ready  to  seal  them  in  blood.  The  tid- 
ings of  Lexington  and  Concord  had  no  sooner  spread,  than 
it  was  universally  felt  that  the  time  was  at  last  come  for 
action.  A  spirit  pervaded  all  ranks,  not  transient,  not  bois- 
terous, but  deep,  solemn,  determined.  War,  on  their  own 
soil  and  at  their  own  doors,  was,  indeed,  a  strange  work 
to  the  yeomanry  of  New  England  ;  but  their  consciences 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  19 

were  convinced  of  its  necessity,  their  country  called  them  to 
it,  and  they  did  not  withhold  themselves  from  the  perilous 
trial.  The  ordinary  occupations  of  life  were  abandoned ; 
the  plough  was  staid  in  the  unfinished  furrow  ;  wives  gave 
up  their  husbands,  and  mothers  gave  up  their  sons,  to  the 
battles  of  a  civil  war.  Death  might  come,  in  honor,  on  the 
field ;  it  might  come,  in  disgrace,  on  the  scaffold.  For 
either  and  for  both  they  were  prepared. 

20.  The  17th  of  June  saw  the  four  New  England  Colonies 
standing  here,  side  by  side,  to  triumph  or  to  fall  together  ; 
and  there  was  with  them  from  that  moment  to  the  end  of 
the  war,  what  I  hope  will  remain  with  them  for  ever,  one 
cause,  one  country,  one  heart. 

21.  The  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was  attended  with  the  most 
important  effects  beyond  its  immediate  results  as  a  military 
engagement.     It  created  at  once  a  state  of  open,  public  war. 
There  could  now  be  no  longer  a  question  of  proceeding 
against  individuals,  as  guilty  of  treason  or  rebellion.     That 
fearful  crisis  was  past.  The  appeal  lay  to  the  sword,  and  the 
only  question  was,  whether  the  spirit  and  the  resources  of 
the  people  would  hold  out  till  the  object  should  be  accom- 
plished.    Nor  were  its  general  consequences  confined  to  our 
own  country.     The  previous  proceedings  of  the  Colonies, 
their  appeals,  resolutions,  and  addresses,  had  made  their 
cause  known  to  Europe.    Without  boasting,  we  may  say, 
that  in  no  age  or  country  has  the  public  cause  been  main- 
tained with  more  force  of  argument,  more  power  of  illustra- 
tion, or  more  of  that  persuasion  which  excited  feeling  and 
elevated  principle  can  alone  bestow,  than  the  Revolutionary 
state  papers  exhibit. 

22.  To  this  able  vindication  of  their  cause,  the  Colonies 
had  now  added  a  practical  and  severe  proof  of  their  own 
true  devotion  to  it,  and  given  evidence  also  of  the  power 
which  they  could  bring  to  its  support.     All  now  saw,  that, 
if  America  fell,  she  would  not  fall  without  a  struggle.    Men 
felt  sympathy  and  regard,  as  well  as  surprise,  when  they 
beheld  these  infant  States,  remote,  unknown,  unaided,  en- 
counter the  power  of  England,  and  in  the  first  considerable 


20  THE   BUNKER    HILL 

battle,  leave  more  of  their  enemies  dead  on  the  field,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  combatants,  than  had  recently 
been  known  to  fall  in  the  wars  of  Europe. 

23.  Information  of  these  events,  circulating   throughout 
the  world,  at  length  reached  the  ears  of  one  who  now  hears 
me.15    He  has  not  forgotten  the  emotion  which  the  fame  of 
Bunker  Hill,  and  the  name  of  Warren,  excited  in  his  youth- 
ful breast. 

24.  Sir,  we  are  assembled  to  commemorate  the  establish- 
ment of  great  public  principles  of  liberty,  and  to  do  honor 
to  the  distinguished  dead.     The  occasion  is  too  severe  for 
eulogy  of  the  living.     But,  Sir,  your  interesting  relation  to 
this  country,  the  peculiar  circumstances  which  surround 
you  and  surround  us,  call  on  me  to  express  the  happiness 
which  we  derive  from  your  presence  and  aid  in  this  solemn 
commemoration . 

25.  Fortunate,  fortunate  man  ! 16  with  what  measure  of 
devotion  will  you  not  thank  God  for  the  circumstances  of 
your  extraordinary  life  !     You   are  connected  with    both 
hemispheres  and  with  two  generations.     Heaven  saw  fit  to 
ordain,  that  the  electric  spark  of  liberty  should  be  conducted, 
through  you,  from  the  New  World  to  the  Old  ;  and  we,  who 
are  now  here  to  perform  this  duty  of  patriotism,  have  all  of 
us  long  ago  received  it  in  charge  from  our  fathers  to  cherish 
your  name  and  your  virtues.     You  will  account  it  an  in- 
stance of  your  good  fortune,  Sir,  that  you  crossed  the  seas  to 
visit  us  at  a  time  which  enables  you  to  be  present  at  this 
solemnity.     You  now  behold  the  field,  the  renown  of  which 
reached  you  in  the  heart  of  France,  and  caused  a  thrill  in 
your  ardent  bosom.     You  see  the  lines  of  the  little  redoubt 
thrown  up  by  the  incredible  diligence  of  Prescott ;  defended 


lo.  Among  the  earliest  of  the  arrangements  for  the  celebration  of  the 
17th  of  June,  1825,  was  the  invitation  to  General  Lafayette  to  be  present; 
and  he  had  so  timed  his  progress  through  the  other  States  as  to  return 
to  Massachusetts  in  season  for  the  great  occasion. 

16.  Fortunate,  fortunate  man  !— "  The  thrilling  eloquence  of  the  address 
to  the  old  soldiers  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  of  the  apostrophe  to  Warren, 
and  the  s'uperb  reservation  of  eulogy  with  which  he  spoke  of  and  to 
General  Lafayette  were  perhaps  unequaled,  surely  never  surpassed  by 
Webster  on  any  other  occasion."— Ticknor's  Life  of  Webster,  II.  ^52. 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  21 

to  the  last  extremity  by  his  lion-hearted  valor  ;  and  within 
which  the  corner-stone  of  our  monument  has  now  taken  its 
position.  Those  who  survived  that  day,  and  whose  lives 
have  been  prolonged  to  the  present  hour,  are  now  around 
you.  Some  of  them  you  have  known  in  the  trying  scenes 
of  war.  Behold  !  they  now  stretch  forth  their  feeble  arms 
to  embrace  you.  Behold  !  they  raise  their  trembling  voices 
to  invoke  the  blessing  of  God  on  you  and  yours  for  ever. 

26.  Sir,  you  have  assisted  us  in  laying  the  foundation  of 
this  structure.   You  have  heard  us  rehearse,  with  our  feeble 
commendation,   the  names  of  departed  patriots.     Monu- 
ments and  eulogy  belong  to  the  dead.    We  give  then  this 
day  to  Warren  and  his  associates.     On  other  occasions  they 
have  been  given  to  your  more  immediate  companions  in 
arms,  to  Washington,  to  Greene,  to  Gates,  to  Sullivan,  and 
to  Lincoln.     We  have  become  reluctant  to  grant  these,  our 
highest  and  last  honors,  further.    We  would  gladly  hold 
them  yet  back  from  the  little  remnant  of  that  immortal 
band.     Illustrious  as  are  your  merits,  yet  far,  O  very  far 
distant  be  the  day,  when  any  inscription  shall  bear  your 
name,  or  any  tongue  pronounce  its  eulogy  ! 

27.  The  leading  reflection  to  which  this  occasion  seems  to 
invite  us,  respects  the  great  changes  which  have  happened 
in  the  fifty  years  since  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was  fought. 
And  it  peculiarly  marks  the  character  of  the  present  age, 
that,  in  looking  at  these  changes,  and  in  estimating  their 
effect  on  our  condition,  we  are  obliged  to  consider,  not  what 
has  been  done  in  our  own  country  only,  but  in  others  also. 
In    these    interesting   times,   while  nations    are    making 
separate  and  individual  advances  in    improvement,  they 
make,  too,  a  common  progress  ;  like  vessels  on  a  common 
tide,  propelled  by  the  gales  at  different  rates,  according  to 
their  several  structures  and  management,  but  all  moved 
forward  by  one  mighty  current,  strong  enough  to  bear  on- 
ward whatever  does  not  sink  beneath  it. 

28.  A  chief  distinction  of  the  present  day  is  a  community 
of    opinions     and    knowledge  amongst  men  in  different 
nations,  existing  in  a  degree  heretofore  unknown.     Knowl- 


22  THE    BUNKER   HILL 

edge  has,  in  our  times,  triumphed  and  is  triumphing,  over 
distance,  over  difference  of  languages,  over  diversity  of 
habits,  over  prejudice,  and  over  bigotry.  The  civilized  and 
Christian  world  is  fast  learning  the  great  lesson,  that  dif- 
ference of  nation  does  not  imply  necessary  hostility,  and 
that  all  contact  need  not  be  war.  The  whole  world  is  be- 
coming a  common  field  for  intellect  to  act  in.  Energy  of 
mind,  genius,  power,  wheresoever  it  exists,  may  speak  out 
in  any  tongue,  and  the  world  will  hear  it.  A  great  chord  of 
sentiment  and  feeling  runs  through  the  two  Continents,  and 
vibrates  over  both.  Every  breeze  wafts  intelligence  from 
country  to  country  ;  every  wave  rolls  it ;  all  give  it  forth, 
and  all  in  turn  receive  it.  There  is  a  vast  commerce  of  ideas ; 
there  are  marts  and  exchanges  for  intellectual  discoveries, 
and  a  wonderful  fellowship  of  those  individual  intelligences 
which  make  up  the  mind  and  the  opinion  of  the  age.  Mind 
is  the  great  leveler  of  all  things ;  human  thought  is  the 
process  by  which  human  ends  are  ultimately  answered ; 
and  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  so  astonishing  in  the  last 
half-century,  has  rendered  innumerable  minds,  variously 
gifted  by  nature,  competent  to  be  competitors  or  fellow- 
workers  on  the  theatre  of  intellectual  operation. 

29.  From  these  causes  important  improvements  have  taken 
place  in  the  personal  condition  of  individuals.  Generally 
speaking,  mankind  are  not  only  better  fed  and  better  clothed, 
but  they  are  able  also  to  enjoy  more  leisure  ;  they  possess 
more  refinement  and  more  self-respect.  A  superior  tone  of 
education,  manners,  and  habits  prevail.  This  remark,  most 
true  in  its  application  to  our  own  country,  is  also  partly  true 
when  applied  elsewhere.  It  is  proved  by  the  vastly  aug- 
mented consumption  of  those  articles  of  manufacture  and  of 
commerce  which  contribute  to  the  comforts  and  the  decencies 
of  life  ;  an  augmentation  which  has  far  outrun  the  progress 
of  population.  And  while  the  unexampled  and  almost  in- 
credible use  of  machinery  would  seem  to  supply  the  place  of 
labor,  labor  still  finds  its  occupation  and  its  reward  ;  so 
wisely  has  Providence  adjusted  men's  wants  and  desires  to 
their  condition  and  their  capacity. 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  23 

30.  Any  adequate  survey,  however,  of  the  progress  made 
during  the  last  half-century  in  the  polite  and  mechanic  arts, 
in  machinery  and  manufactures,  in  commerce  and  agricul- 
ture, in  letters  and  in  science,  would  require  volumes.     I 
must  abstain  wholly  from  these  subjects,  and  turn  for  a 
moment  to  the  contemplation  of  what  has  been  done  on  the 
great  questions  of  politics  and  government.     This  is  the 
master  topic  of  the  age  ;  and  during  the  whole  fifty  years  it 
has  intensely  occupied  the  thoughts  of  men.     The  nature  of 
civil  government,  its  ends  and  uses,  have  been  canvassed 
and  investigated  ;  ancient  opinions  attacked  and  defended ; 
new  ideas  recommended  and  resisted,  by  whatever  power 
the  mind  of  man  could  bring  to  the  controversy.     From  the 
closet  and  the  public  halls  the  debate  has  been  transferred 
to  the  field  ;  and  the  world  has  been  shaken  by  wars  of  un- 
exampled magnitude,  and  the  greatest  variety  of  fortune. 
A  day  of  peace  has  at  length  succeeded  ;  and  now  that  the 
strife  has  subsided,  and  the  smoke  cleared  away,  we  may 
begin  to  see  what  has  actually  been  done,  permanently 
changing  the  state  and  condition  of  human  society.     And, 
without  dwelling  on  particular  circumstances,  it  is  most  ap- 
parent, that,  from  the  before  mentioned  causes  of  augmented 
knowledge  and  improved  individual  condition,  a  real,  sub- 
stantial, and  important  change  has  taken  place,  and  is  tak- 
ing place,  highly  favorable,  on  the  whole,  to  human  liberty 
and  human  happiness. 

31.  The  great  wheel  of  political  revolution  began  to  move  ' 
in  America.     Here  its  rotation  was  guarded,  regular  and 
safe.    Transferred  to  the  other  Continent,  from  unfortunate/ 
but  natural  causes,  it  received  an  irregular  and  violent  im- 
pulse ;  it  whirled  along  with  a  fearful  celerity  ;  till  at  length; 
like  the  chariot-wheels  in  the  races  of  antiquity,  it  took  fire 
from  the  rapidity  of  its  own  motion,  and  blazed  onward,  • 
spreading  conflagration  and  terror  around.  i 

32.  We  learn  from  the  result  of  this  experiment,  how  for- 
tunate was  our  own  condition,   and  how  admirably  the 
character  of  our  people  was  calculated  for  setting  the  great 
example  of  popular  governments.     The  possession  of  power 


24  THE   BUNKER   HILL 

did  not  turn  the  heads  of  the  American  people,  for  they  had 
long  been  in  the  habit  of  exercising  a  great  degree  of  self- 
control.  Although  the  paramount  authority  of  the  parent 
state  existed  over  them,  yet  a  large  field  of  legislation  had 
always  been  open  to  our  Colonial  assemblies.  They  were 
accustomed  to  representative  bodies  and  the  forms  of  free 
government ;  they  understood  the  doctrine  of  the  division 
of  power  among  different  branches,  and  the  necessity  of 
checks  on  each.  The  character  of  our  countrymen,  more- 
over, was  sober,  moral  and  religious  ;  and  there  was  little  in 
the  change  to  shock  their  feelings  of  justice  and  humanity, 
or  even  to  disturb  an  honest  prejudice.  We  had  no  domes- 
tic throne  to  overturn,  no  privileged  orders  to  cast  down, 
no  violent  changes  of  property  to  encounter.  In  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  no  man  sought  or  wished  for  more  than  to 
defend  and  enjoy  his  own.  None  hoped  for  plunder  or  for 
spoil.  Rapacity  was  unknown  to  it ;  the  axe  was  not 
among  the  instruments  of  its  accomplishment ;  and  we  all 
know  that  it  could  not  have  lived  a  single  day  under  any 
well-founded  imputation  of  possessing  a  tendency  adverse  to 
the  Christian  Religion. 

33.  It  need  not  surprise  us,  that,  under  circumstances  less 
auspicious,  political  revolutions  elsewhere,  even  when  well 
intended,  have  terminated  differently.  It  is,  indeed,  a 
great  achievement,  it  is  the  master-work  of  the  world,  to 
establish  governments  entirely  popular  on  lasting  founda- 
tions ;  nor  is  it  easy,  indeed,  to  introduce  the  popular  prin- 
ciple at  all  into  governments  to  which  it  has  been  altogether 
a  stranger.  It  cannot  be  doubted,  however,  that  Europe 
has  come  out  of  the  contest,  in  which  she  has  been  so  long 
engaged,  with  greatly  superior  knowledge,  and,  in  many 
respects,  in  a  highly  improved  condition.  Whatever  benefit 
has  been  acquired  is  likely  to  be  retained,  for  it  consists 
mainly  in  the  acquisition  of  more  enlightened  ideas.  And 
although  kingdoms  and  provinces  may  be  wrested  from  the 
hands  that  hold  them,  in  the  same  manner  they  were  ob- 
tained ;  although  ordinary  and  vulgar  power  may,  in  hu- 
man affairs,  be  lost  as  it  has  been  won  ;  yet  it  is  the  glorious 


MONUMENT    ORATIONS.  25 

prerogative  of  the  empire  of  knowledge,  that  what  it  gains 
it  never  loses.  On  the  contrary,  it  increases  by  the  multiple 
of  its  own  poM-er  ;  all  its  ends  become  means  ;  all  its  attain- 
ments, helps  to  new  conquests.  Its  whole  abundant  har- 
vest is  but  so  much  seed  wheat,  and  nothing  has  limited, 
and  nothing  can  limit,  the  amount  of  ultimate  product. 

34.  Under  the  influence  of  this  rapidly  increasing  knowl- 
edge, the  people  have  begun,  in  all  forms  of  government, 
to  think  and  to  reason,  on  affairs  of  state.  Regarding  govern- 
ment as  an  institution  for  the  public  good,  they  demand  a 
knowledge  of  its  operations,  and  a  participation  in  its 
exercise.  A  call  for  the  representative  system,  wherever  it 
is  not  enjoyed,  and  where  there  is  already  intelligence 
enough  to  estimate  its  value,  is  perseveringly  made.  Where 
men  may  speak  out,  they  demand  it  ;  where  the  bayonet  is 
at  their  throats,  they  pray  for  it. 

So.  When  Louis  the  Fourteenth17  said,  "  I  am  the  State," 
he  expressed  the  essence  of  the  doctrine  of  unlimited  power. 
By  the  rules  of  that  system,  the  people  are  disconnected 
from  the  State  ;  they  are  its  subjects,  it  is  their  lord.  These 
ideas,  founded  in  the  love  of  power,  and  long  supported  by 
the  excess  and  the  abuse  of  it,  are  yielding,  in  our  age,  to 
other  opinions  ;  and  the  civilized  Avorld  seems  at  last  to  be 
proceeding  to  the  conviction  of  that  fundamental  and 
manifest  truth,  that  the  powers  of  government  are  but  a 
trust,  and  that  they  cannot  be  lawfully  exercised  but  for 
the  good  of  the  community.  As  knowledge  is  more  and 
more  extended,  this  conviction  becomes  more  and  more 
general.  Knowledge,  in  truth,  is  the  great  sun  in  the 
firmament.  Life  and  power  are  scattered  with  all  its  beams. 

36.  We  may  hope  that  the  growing  influence  of~~en- 
lightened  sentiment  will  promote  the  permanent  peace  of 


17.  Louis  the  Fourteenth.— Succeeded  his  father,  Louis  XIII,  as  king 
of  France  in  1643.  On  the  death  of  Mazarin,  his  great  prime  minister, 
in  1661,  the  young  king  suddenly  assumed  the  reins  of  government, 
and  from  that  time  forth  carried  into  effect  with  rare  energy  apolitical 
theory  of  pure  despotism.  His  famous  saying,  "L'etat  c*est  moi"  (1 
am  the  State),  expressed  the  principle  to  which  everything  was  accom- 
modated. 


26  THE    BUNKER    HILL 

the  world.  Wars  to  maintain  family  alliances,  to  uphold 
or  to  cast  down  dynasties,  and  to  regulate  successions  to 
thrones,  which  have  occupied  so  much  room  in  the  history 
of  modern  times,  if  not  less  likely  to  happen  at  all,  will  be 
less  likely  to  become  general  and  involve  many  nations,  as 
the  great  principle  shall  be  more  and  more  established,  that 
the  interest  of  the  world  is  peace,  and  its  first  great  statute, 
that  every  nation  possesses  the  power  of  establishing  a 
government  for  itself.  Let  us  thank  God  that  we  live  in  an 
age  when  something  has  influence  besides  the  bayonet,  and 
when  the  sternest  authority  does  not  venture  to  encounter 
the  scorching  power  of  public  reproach.  Any  attempt  of  the 
kind  should  be  met  by  one  universal  burst  of  indignation  ; 
the  air  of  the  civilized  world  ought  to  be  made  too  warm  to 
be  comfortably  breathed  by  any  one  who  would  hazard  it. 

37.  If  the  true  spark  of  religious    and  civil  liberty  be 
kindled,  it  will  burn.     Human  agency  cannot  extinguish 
it.    .Like  the  earth's  central  fire,  it  may  be  smothered  for  a 
time  ;  the  ocean  may  overwhelm  it ;  mountains  may  press 
it  down ;   but  its  inherent  and  unconquerable  force  will 
heave  both  the  ocean  and  the  land,  and  at  some  time  or 
other,  in  some  place  or  other,  the  volcano  will  break  out 
and  flame  up  to  heaven. 

38.  And,  now,  let  us  indulge  an  honest  exultation  in  the 
conviction  of  the  benefit  which  the  example  of  our  country 
has  produced,  and  is  likely  to  produce,  on  human  freedom 
and  human  happiness.     Let  us  endeavor  to  comprehend 
in  all  its  magnitude,  and  to  feel  in  all  its  importance,  the 
part  assigned  to  us  in  the  great  drama  of  human  affairs. 
We  are  placed  at  the  head  of  the  system  of  representative 
and  popular  governments.     Thus  far  our  example  shows 
that  such  governments  are  compatible,  not  only  with  re- 
spectability and  power,  but  with  repose,  with  peace,  with 
security  of  personal  rights,  with  good  laws,  and  a  just  ad- 
ministration. 

39.  Wearenotpropagandists.     Wherever  other  sy stuns 
a  reprefered,  either  as  being  thought  better  in  themselves, 
or  as  better  suited  to  existing  condition,  we  leave  the  pref- 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  27 

erence  to  be  enjoyed.  Our  history  hitherto  proves,  how- 
ever, that  the  popular  form  is  practicable,  and  that  with 
wisdom  and  knowledge  men  may  govern  themselves  ;  and 
the  duty  incumbent  on  us  is  to  preserve  the  consistency  of 
this  cheering  example,  and  take  care  that  nothing  may 
weaken  its  authority  with  the  world.  If,  in  our  case,  the 
representative  system  ultimately  fail,  popular  governments 
must  be  pronounced  impossible.  No  combination  of  cir- 
cumstances more  favorable  to  the  experiment  can  ever  be 
expected  to  occur.  The  last  hopes  of  mankind,  therefore,  rest 
with  us  ;  and  if  it  should  be  proclaimed,  that  our  example 
had  become  an  argument  against  the  experiment,  the  knell 
of  popular  liberty  would  be  sounded  throughout  the  earth. 

40.  These  are  excitements  to  duty  ;  but  they  are  not  sug- 
gestions of  doubt.     Our  history  and  our  condition,  all  that 
is  gone  before  us,  and  all  that  surrounds  us,  authorize  the 
belief,  th'at  popular  governments,  though  subject  to  occa- 
sional variations,  in  form  perhaps  not  always  for  the  better, 
may  yet,  in  their  general  character,  be  as  durable  and  perma- 
nent 18  as  other  systems.    We  know,   indeed,  that  in  our 
country  any  other  is  impossible.     The  principle  of  free  gov- 
ernments adheres  to  the  American  soil.     It  is  bedded  in  it, 
immovable  as  its  mountains. 

41.  And  let  the  sacred  obligations  which  have  devolved 
on  this  generation,  and  on  us,  sink  deep  into  our  hearts. 
Those  who  established  our  liberty  and  our  government  are 
daily  dropping  from  among  us.     The  great  trust  now  de- 
scends to  new  hands.     Let  us  apply  ourselves  to  that  which 
is  presented  to  us,  as  our  appropriate  object.    We  can  win 
no  laurels  in  a  war  for  independence.     Earlier  and  worthier 
hands  have  gathered  them  all.     Nor  are  there  places'for  us 
by  the  side  of  Solon,  and  Alfred,19  and  other  founders  of 


18.  Durable  and  permanent.— The  strength  and  durability  of  our  pop- 
ular form  of  government  was  put  to  a  most  severe  test  in  the  great  war 
.for  the  Union  which  began  in  1861  and  continued  for  more  than  four 
years.    "The  great  duty  of  defence  and  preservation  "  was  maintained 
at  the  cost,  of  thousands  of  lives  and  millions  of  money. 

19.  Solon  and  Alfred.— Solon  (born  about  638  B.  C.1,  the  most  famous  of 
all  the  ancient  Greek  law-givers,  established  a  code  of  laws  which  em- 


28  MONUMENT   ORATIOXs. 

states.  Our  fathers  have  filled  them.  But  there  remains  to 
us  a  great  duty  of  defence  and  preservation ;  and  there  is 
opened  to  us,  also,  a  noble  pursuit,  to  which  the  spirit  of  the 
times  strongly  invites  us.  Our  proper  business  is  improve- 
ment. Let  our  age  be  the  age  of  improvement.  In  a  day 
of  peace,  let  us  advance  the  arts  of  peace  and  the  works  of 
peace.  Let  us  develop  the  resources  of  our  land,  call  forth 
its  powers,  build  up  its  institutions,  promote  all  its  great 
interests,  and  see  whether  we  also,  in  our  day  and  genera- 
tion, may  not  perform  something  worthy  to  be  remembered. 
Let  us  cultivate  a  true  spirit  of  union  and  harmony.  In 
pursuing  the  great  objects  which  our  condition  points  out 
to  us,  let  us  act  under  a  settled  conviction,  and  an  habitual 
feeling,  that  these  twenty-four  States  are  one  country.  Let 
our  conceptions  be  enlarged  to  the  circle  of  our  duties.  Let 
us  extend  our  ideas  over  the  whole  of  the  vast  field  in  which 
we  are  called  to  act.  Let  our  object  be,  our  country,  our 
whole  country,  and  nothing  but  our  country.  And,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  may  that  country  itself  become  a  vast  and 
splendid  monument,  not  of  oppression  and  terror,  but  of 
Wisdom,  of  Peace,  and  of  Liberty,  upon  which  the  world 
may  gaze  with  admiration  for  ever  ! 

braced  almost  every  subject  of  social  importance.  Alfred  the  Great, 
King  of  England,  died  in  901,  after  a  reign  of  thirty  years.  He  collected 
the  laws  of  the  Saxons,  and  formed  them  into  a  new  code,  and  estab- 
lished a  tribunal  for  the  administration  of  justice,  which  may,  perhaps, 
have  suggested  to  a  later  sovereign  (Henry  II.)  the  trial  by  jury. 

Note. — In  the  first  Bunker  Hill  oration  Mr.  "\Vebster  touched  his 
highest  point  in  the  difficult  task  of  commemorative  oratory.  In  that 
field  he  not  only  stands  unrivaled,  but  no  one  has  approached  him. 
The  innumerable  productions  of  this  class  by  other  men,  many  of  a 
high  degree  of  excellence,  are  forgotten,  while  those  of  Webster  form 
part  of  the  education  of  every  American  school-boy,  are  widely  read, 
and  have  entered  into  the  literature  and  thought  of  the  country.— 
Henry  Cabot  Lodge's  Webster. 


THE    COMPLETION    OF    THE    BUNKER   HILL 
MONUMENT. 

An  address  delivered  on  Hunker  Hill,  on  the  17th  of  June,  1843. 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

SEVENTEEN  years  had  elapsed  since  the  corner-stone  of  Bunker  Hill 
Monument  was  laid,  with  the  address  of  Webster,  which  had  become 
imperishably  associated,  in  every  part  of  the  Union,  with  the  event 
which  it  was  designed  to  commemorate.  It  was  fitting  that  the  elo- 
quence of  Webster  should  crown  the  work.  The  last  stone  was  laid  in 
its  place  on  the  morning  of  the  23d  of  July,  1842.  It  was  determined  by 
the  directors  of  the  Association,  that  the  completion  of  the  work  should 
be  celebrated  in  a  manner  not  less  imposing  than  that  in  which  the 
laying  of  the  corner-stone  had  been  celebrated.  Many  circumstances 
conspired  to  increase  the  interest  of  the  occasion.  Webster's  address 
in  1825  had  obtained  the  widest  circulation  throughout  the  country. 
Passages  from  it  had  passed  into  household  words  throughout  the 
Union.  They  made  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument  a  familiar  thought 
with  the  people.  The  President  and  his  Cabinet  had  accepted  invita- 
tions to  be  present.  One  hundred  and  eight  surviving  veterans  of  the 
Revolution,  among  whom  were  some  who  were  in  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill,  imparted  a  touching  interest  to  the  scene.  The  day  was  uncom- 
monly fine ;  cool  for  the  season,  and  clear.  Mr.  Webster  was  stationed 
upon  an  elevated  platform,  in  front  of  the  audience  and  of  the  monu- 
ment towering  in  the  background.  It  is  estimated  that  a  hundred 
thousand  persons  were  gathered  about  the  spot,  and  nearly  half  that 
number  are  supposed  to  have  been  within  the  reach  of  the  orator's 
voice.  "  When,  after  saying,  'It  is  not  from  my  lips,  etc.  The  powerful 
speaker  stands  motionless  before  us,'  he  paused,  and  pointed  in  silent 
admiration  to  the  sublime  structure,  the  audience  burst  into  long  and 
loud  applause.  It  was  some  moments  before  the  speaker  could  go  on 
with  the  address."  This  second  Bunker  Hill  address  is  naturally  less 
impassioned  than  the  first,  but  it  is  a  discourse  filled  with  a  sober 
beauty,  and  with  a  very  impressive  statement  of  the  true  principle  of 
the  American  Revolution,  and  of  the  systems  of  government  which, 
derived  through  that  revolution  from  English  sources,  were  confirmed 
and  established  by  it.  The  young  student  cannot  read  and  re-read  this 

29 


30  THE   BUNKER    HILL 

oration  too  many  times.    Portions  of  it  should  become  familiar  as 
household  words. 

To  bring  this  address  within  the  compass  of  this  little  book,  sundry 
portions  have  been  omitted,  but  the  wording  has  not  been  changed  or 
condensed. 


1.  A  DUTY  has  been  performed.    A  work  of  gratitude  and 
patriotism  is  completed.     This  structure,  having  its  founda- 
tions in  soil  which  drank  deep  of  early  Revolutionary  blood, 
has  at  length  reached  its  destined  height,  and  now  lifts  its 
summit  to  the  skies. 

2.  We  have  assembled  to  celebrate  the  accomplishment 
of  the  undertaking,  and  to  indulge  afresh  in  the  recollec- 
tion of  the  great  event  which  it  is  designed  to  commemo- 
rate.    Eighteen  years,  more  than  half  the  duration  of  a 
generation  of  mankind,  have  elapsed  since  the  corner-stone 
of  this  monument  was  laid.  '  The  hopes  of  its  projectors 
rested  on  voluntary  contributions,  private  munificence,  and 
the  general  favor  of  the  public.    These  hopes  have  not  been 
disappointed. 

3.  The  Bunker  Hill  Monument1  is  finished.     Here    it 
stands.     Fortunate  in  the  high  natural  eminence  on  which 


1.  The  Bunker  Hill  Monument.— The  following  description  of  the 
Bunker  Hill  Monument  and  Square  is  from  Mr.  Frothingham's  History 
of  the  Siege  of  Boston:  "Monument  Square  is  four  hundred  and  seven- 
teen feet  from  north  to  south,  and  four  hundred  feet  from  east  to  west, 
and  contains  nearly  six  acres.  It  embraces  the  whole  site  of  the  re- 
doubt, and  a  part  of  the  site  of  the  breastwork.  According  to  the  most 
accurate  plan  of  the  town  and  the  battle  (Page's),  the  monument  stands 
where  the  southwest  angle  of  the  redoubt  was,  and  the  whole  of  the 
redoubt  was  between  the  monument  and  the  street  that  bounds  it  on 
the  west.  The  small  mound  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  square  is 
supposed  to  be  the  remainsof  the  breastwork.  Warren  fell  about  two 
hundred  feetwestofthemonument.  Anironfenceenclosesthesquare, 
and  another  surrounds  the  monument.  The  square  has  entrances  on 
each  of  its  sides,  and  at  each  of  its  corners,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  walk 
and  rows  of  trees.  The  obelisk  is  thirty  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base, 
about  fifteen  feet  at  the  top  of  the  truncated  part,  and  was  designed  to 
be  two  hundred  and  twenty  feet  high ;  but  the  mortar  and  the  seams 
between  the  stones  make  the  precise  height  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  feet.  Within  the  shaft  is  a  hollow  cone,  with  a  spiral  stairway 
winding  round  it  to  its  summit,  which  enters  a  circular  chamber  at  the 
top.  There  are  ninety  courses  of  stone  in  the  shaft,— six  of  them  below 
the  ground,  and  eighty-four  above  the  ground.  The  capstone,  or  apex, 
is  a  single  stone  four  feet  square  at  the  base,  and  three  feet  six  inches 
in  height,  weighing  two  and  a  half  tons." 


MONUMENT  ORATIONS.  31 

it  is  placed,  higher,  infinitely  higher  in  its  objects  and 
purposes,  it  rises  over  the  land  and  over  the  sea  ;  and  visi- 
ble, at  their  homes,  to  three  hundred  thousand  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Massachusetts,  it  stands  a  memorial  of  the  last,  and 
a  monitor  to  the  present,  and  to  all  succeeding  generations. 
I  have  spoken  of  the  loftiness  of  its  purpose.  If  it  had 
been  without  any  other  design  than  the  creation  of  a  work 
of  art,  the  granite  .of  which  it  is  composed  would  have 
slept  in  its  native  bed.  It  has  a  purpose,  and  that  purpose 
gives  it  its  character.  That  purpose  enrobes  it  with  dignity 
and  moral  grandeur.  That  well-known  purpose  it  is  which 
causes  us  to  look  up  to  it  with  a  feeling  of  awe.  It  is  itself 
the  orator  of  this  occasion.  It  is  not  from  my  lips,  it  could 
not  be  from  any  human  lips,  that  that  strain  of  eloquence 
is  this  day  to  flow  most  competent  to  move  and  excite  the 
vast  multitudes  around  me.  The  powerful  speaker  *  stands 
motionless  before  us.  It  is  a  plain  shaft.  It  bears  no  in- 
scriptions, fronting  to  the  rising  sun,  from  which  the  future 
antiquary  shall  wipe  the  dust.  Nor  does  the  rising  sun 
cause  tones  of  music  to  issue  from  its  summit.  But  at  the 
rising  of  the  sun,  and  at  the  setting  of  the  sun  ;  in  the  blaze 
of  noonday,  and  beneath  the  milder  effulgence  of  lunar 
light ;  it  looks,  it  speaks,  it  acts,  to  the  full  comprehension 
of  every  American  mind,  and  the  awakening  of  glowing 
enthusiasm  in  every  American  heart.  Its  silent,  but  awful 
utterance ;  its  deep  pathos,  as  it  brings  to  our  contempla- 
tion the  17th  of  June,  1775,  and  the  consequences  which 
have  resulted  to  us,  to  our  country,  and  to  the  world,  from 
the  events  of  that  day,  and  which  we  know  must  continue 
to  rain  influence  on  the  destinies  of  mankind  to  the  end  of 
time  ;  the  elevation  with  which  it  raises  us  high  above  the 
ordinary  feelings  of  life — surpass  all  that  the  study  of  the 
closet,  or  even  the  inspiration  of  genius,  can  produce.  To- 
day it  speaks  to  us.  Its  future  auditories  will  be  the  suc- 


2.  The  powerful  speaker,  etc. — No  wonder  the  vast  concourse  of  people 
burst  forth  into  "long  and  loud  applause,"  as  the  great  orator  put  ah 
the  strength  of  his  matchless  oratory  into  this  masterly  passage  in  his 
.oration. 


32  THE    BUNKER    HILL 

cessive  generations  of  men,  as  they  rise  up  before  it  and 
gather  around  it.  Its  speech  will  be  of  patriotism  and 
courage  ;  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  ;  of  free  government ; 
of  the  moral  improvement  and  elevation  of  mankind  ;  and 
of  the  immortal  memory  of  those  who,  with  heroic  devo- 
tion, have  sacrificed  their  lives  for  their  country. 

4.  In  the  older  world,  numerous  fabrics  exist,  reared  by 
human  hands,  but  whose  object  has  been  lost  in  the  dark- 
ness of  ages.     They  are  now  monuments  of  nothing  but  the 
labor  and  skill  which  constructed  them. 

5.  The  mighty  pyramid  itself,  half  buried  in  the  sands  of 
Africa,  has  nothing  to  bring  down  and  report  to  us  but  the 
power  of  kings  and  the  servitude  of  the  people.     If  it  had 
any  purpose  beyond  that  of  a  mausoleum,  such  purpose  has 
perished  from  history  and  from  tradition.     If  asked  for  its 
moral  object,  its  admonition,  its  sentiment,  its  instruction 
to  mankind,  or  any  high  end  in  its  erection,  it  is  silent ; 
silent  as  the  millions  which  lie  in  the  dust  at  its  base,  and 
in  the  catacombs  which  surround  it.    Without  a  just  moral 
object,  therefore,  made  known  to  man,  though  raised  against 
the  skies,  it  excites  only  conviction  of  power,  mixed  with 
strange  wonder.     But  if  the  civilization  of  the  present  race 
of  men,  founded,  as  it  is,  in  solid  science,  the  true  knowl- 
edge of  nature,   and  vast  discoveries  in  art,  and  which  is 
elevated  and  purified  by  moral  sentiment  and  by  the  truths 
of  Christianity,  be  not  destined  to  destruction  before  the 
final  termination  of  human  existence  on  earth,  the  object 
and  purpose  of  this  edifice  will  be  known  till  that  hour  shall 
come.    And  even  if  civilization  should  be  subverted,  and  the 
truths  of  the  Christian  religion  obscured  by  a  new  deluge  of 
barbarism,  the  memory  of  Bunker  Hill  and  the  American 
Revolution  will  still  be  elements  and  parts  of  the  knowledge 
which  shall  he  possessed  by  the  last  man  to  whom  the  light 
of  civilization  and  Christianity  shall  be  extended. 

6.  Banners  and  badges,  processions  and  flags,  announce 
to  us,  that  amidst  this  uncounted  throng  are  thousands  of 
natives  of  New  England  now  residents  in  other  States. 
Welcome,  ye  kindred  names,  with  kindred  blood  !    From 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  33 

the  broad  savannas  of  the  South,  from  the  newer  regions  of 
the  West,  from  amidst  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men 
of  Eastern  origin  who  cultivate  the  rich  valley  of  the  Gene- 
see  or  live  along  the  chain  of  the  Lakes,  from  the  mountains 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  from  the  thronged  cities  of  the  coast, 
welcome,  welcome  !  Wherever  else  you  may  be  strangers, 
here  you  are  all  at  home.  You  assemble  at  this  shrine  of 
liberty,  near  the  family  altars  at  which  your  earliest  devo- 
tions were  paid  to  heaven,  near  to  the  temples  of  worship 
first  entered  by  you,  and  near  to  the  schools  and  colleges  in 
which  your  education  was  received.  You  come  hither  with 
a  glorious  ancestry  of  liberty.  You  bring  names  \vhich  are 
on  the  rolls  of  Lexington,  Concord,  and  Bunker  Hill.  You 
come,  some  of  you,  once  more  to  be  embraced  by  an  aged 
Revolutionary  father,  or  to  receive  another,  perhaps  a  last, 
blessing,  bestowed  in  love  and  tears,  by  a  mother,  yet  sur- 
viving to  witness  and  to  enjoy  your  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness. 

7.  But  if  family  associations  and  the  recollections  of  the 
past  bring  you  hither  with  greater  alacrity,  and  mingle 
with  your  greeting  much  of  local  attachment  and  private 
affection,  greeting  also  be  given,  free  and  hearty  greeting, 
to  every  American  citizen  who  treads  this  sacred  soil  with 
patriotic  feeling,  and  respires  with  pleasure  in  an  atmos- 
phere perfumed  with  the  recollections  of  1775  !    This  occa- 
sion is  respectable,3  nay,  it  is  grand,  it  is  sublime,  by  the 
nationality  of  its  sentiment.    Among  the  seventeen  milions 
of  happy  people  who  form  the  American  community,  there 
is  not  one  that  has  not  a  deep  and  abiding  interest  in  that 
which  it  commemorates. 

8.  Wroe  betide  the  man  who  brings  to  this  day's  worship 
feelings  less  than  wholly  American  !    Woe  betide  the  man 
that  can  stand  here  with  the  fires  of  local  resentment  burn- 
ing, or  the  purpose  of  fomenting  local  jealousies  and  the 


3.  Respectable. — Webster  was  fond  of  certain  words,  commonplace 
enough  in  themselves,  to  which  he  insisted  on  imparting  a  more  than 
ordinary  import.  Two  of  these  which  meet  us  continually  in  reading 
his  speeches  are  "interesting"  and  "respectable."  Thus  he  speaks  of 
"  the  interesting  group  upon  the  deck  "  of  the  Mayflower. 


34  THE   BUNKER   HILL 

strifes  of  local  interests  festering  and  rankling  in  his  heart  ! 
Union,  established  in  justice,  in  patriotism,  and  the  niosi 
plain  and  obvious  common  interest — union,  founded  on  the 
same  love  of  liberty,  cemented  by  blood  shed  in  the  same 
common  cause — union  has  been  the  source  of  all  our  glory 
and  greatness  thus  far,  and  is  the  ground  of  all  our  highest 
hopes.  This  column  stands  on  Union.  I  know  not  that  it 
might  not  keep  its  position,  if  the  American  Union,  in  the 
mad  conflict  of  human  passions,  and  in  the  strife  of  parties 
and  factions,  should  be  broken  up  and  destroyed.  I  know 
not  that  it  would  totter  and  fall  to  the  earth,  and  mingle 
its  fragments  with  the  fragments  of  Liberty  and  the  Con- 
stitution, when  State  should  be  separated  from  State,  and 
faction  and  dismemberment  obliterate  forever  all  the  hopes 
of  the  founders  of  our  republic,  and  the  great  inheritance  of 
their  children.  It  might  stand.  But  who,  from  beneath 
the  weight  of  mortification  and  shame  that  would  oppress 
him,  could  look  up  to  behold  it  ?  Whose  eyeballs  would 
not  be  seared  by  such  a  spectacle  ?  For  my  part,  should  I 
live  to  such  a  time,  I  shall  avert  my  eyes  from  it  for  ever. 

9.  It  is  not  a  mere  military  encounter  of  hostile  *  armies 
that  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  presents  its  principal  claim  to 
attention.  Yet,  even  as  a  mere  battle,  there  were  circum- 
stances attending  it  extraordinary  in  character,  and  en- 
titling it  to  peculiar  distinction.  It  was  fought  on  this 
eminence  ;  in  the  neighborhood  of  yonder  city  ;  in  the 
presence  of  many  more  spectators  than  there  were  combat- 
ants in  the  conflict.  Men,  women,  and  children,  from 
every  commanding  position,  were  gazing  at  the  battle,  and 
looking  for  its  result  with  all  the  eagerness  natural  to  those 
who  knew  that  the  issue  was  fraught  with  the  deepest  con- 
sequences to  themselves,  personally,  as  well  as  to  their 
country.  Yet,  on  the  16th  of  June,  1775,  there  was  nothing 
around  this  hill  but  verdure  and  culture.  There  was,  in- 

4.  The  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill.— Read  in  connection  with  this  passage 
full  details  of  this  first  important  battle  of  the  Revolution.  Read  cer- 
tain portions  of  Frothingham's  "History  of  the  Siege  of  Boston," 
Holmes'  poem  called  "  Grandmother's  Story  of  the  Battle  of  Bunker 
Hill." 


MONUMENT  ORATIONS.  35 

deed,  the  note  of  awful  preparation  in  Boston.  There  was 
the  Provincial  army  at  Cambridge,  with  its  right  flank 
resting  on  Dorchester,  and  its  left  on  Chelsea.  But  here  all 
was  peace.  Tranquility  reigned  around.  On  the  17th, 
every  thing  was  changed.  On  this  eminence  had  arisen,  in 
the  night,  a  redoubt,  built  by  Prescott,  and  in  which  he  held 
command.  Perceived  by  the  enemy  at  dawn,  it  was  imme- 
diately cannonaded  from  the  floating  batteries  in  the  river, 
and  from  the  opposite  shore.  And  then  ensued  the  hurried 
movement  in  Boston,  and  soon  the  troops  of  Britain  em- 
barked in  the  attempt  to  dislodge  the  Colonists.  In  an  hour 
everything  indicated  an  immediate  and  bloody  conflict. 
Love  of  liberty  on  one  side,  proud  defiance  of  rebellion  on 
the  other,  hopes  and  fears,  and  courage  and  daring,  on  both 
sides,  animated  the  hearts  of  the  combatants  as  they  hung 
on  the  edge  of  battle. 

10.  Both  parties  were  anxious  to  try  the  strength  of  their 
arms.     The  pride  of  England  would  not  permit  the  rebels, 
as  she  termed  them,  to  defy  her  to  the  teeth  ;  and,  without 
for  a  moment  calculating  the  cost,  the  British  general  deter- 
mined to  destroy  the  fort  immediately.     On  the  other  side, 
Prescott  and  his  gallant  followers  longed  and  thirsted  for  a 
decisive  trial  of  strength  and  of  courage.     They  wished  a 
battle,  and  wished  it  at  once.     And  this  is  the  true  secret  of 
the  movements  on  this  hill. 

11.  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe  that  battle.     The  can- 
nonading ;  the  landing  of  the  British  ;  their  advance  ;  the 
coolness  with  which  the  charge  was  met ;  the  repulse  ;  the 
second  attack  ;  the  second  repulse  ;  the  burning  of  Charles- 
town  ;  and,  finally,  the  closing  assault,  and  the  slow  retreat 
of  the  Americans, — the  history  of  all  these  is  familiar. 

12.  But  the  consequences  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill 
were  greater  than  those  of  any  ordinary  conflict,  although 
between  armies  of  far  greater  force,  and  terminating  with 
more  immediate  advantage  on  the  one  side  or  the  other.    It 
was  the  first  great  battle  of  the  Revolution  ;  and  not  only 
the  first  blow,  but  the  blow  which  determined  the  contest. 
It  did  not,  indeed,  put  an  end  to  the  war,  but  in  the  then 


36  THE   BUNKER   HILL 

existing  hostile  state  of  feeling,  the  difficulties  could  only  be 
referred  to  the  arbitration  of  the  sword.  And  one  thing  is 
certain  :  that  after  the  New  England  troops  had  shown 
themselves  able  to  face  and  repulse  the  regulars,  it  was 
decided  that  peace  never  could  be  established,  but  upon  the 
basis  of  the  Independence  of  the  Colonies.  "When  the  sun 
of  that  day  went  down,  the  event  of  Independence  was  no 
longer  doubtful.  In  a  few  days  Washington  heard  of  the 
battle,  and  he  inquired  if  the  militia  had  stood  the  fire  of 
the  regulars.  When  told  that  they  had  not  only  stood  that 
fire,  but  reserved  their  own  till  the  enemy  was  within  eight 
rods,  and  then  poured  it  in  with  tremendous  effect,  "Then," 
exclaimed  he,  "  the  liberties  of  the  country  are  safe  ! "  The 
consequences  of  this  battle  were  just  of  the  same  importance 
as  the  Revolution  itself. 

13.  If  there  was  nothing  of  value  in  the  principles  of  the 
American  Revolution,  then  there  is  nothing  valuable  in  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill  and  its  consequences.     But  if  the 
Revolution  was  an  era  in  the  history  of  man  favorable  to 
human  happiness,  if  it  was  an  event  which  marked  the 
progress  of  man  all  over  the  world  from  despotism  to  liberty, 
then  this  monument  is  not  raised  without  cause.     Then  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill  is  not  an  event  undeserving  celebra- 
tions, commemorations,  and  rejoicings,  now,  and  in  all  com- 
ing times. 

14.  What,  then,  is  the  true  and  peculiar  principle 5  of  the 
American  Revolution,  and  of  the  systems  of  government 
which  it  has  confirmed  and  established  ?  The  truth  is,  that 
the  American  Revolution  was  not  caused  by  the  instanta- 
neous discovery  of  principles  of  government  before  unheard 
of,  or  the  practical  adoption  of  political  ideas  such  as  had 
never  before  entered  into  the  minds  of  men.  (it  was  but  the 
full  development  of  principles  of  government,   forms    of 
society,  and  political  sentiments,  the  origin  of  all  which  lay 
back  two  centuries  in  English  and  American  history.  ) 

5.  True  and  peculiar  principle. — Master  thoroughly  Webster's  able  ex- 
position of  the  "  true  and  peculiar  principle  "  of  the  Revolution.  It  is 
the  epitome  of  all  that  can  be  said,  stamped  with  all  the  fervor  of  patri- 
otic oratory. 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  37 

15.  The  discovery  of  America,  its  colonization  by  the 
nations  of  Europe,  the  history  and  progress  of  the  colonies, 
from  their  establishment  to  the  time  when  the  principal  of 
them  threw  off  their  allegiance  to  the  respective  states  by 
which  they  had  been  planted,  and  founded  governments 
of  their  own,  constitute  one  of  the  most  interesting  portions 
of  the  annals  of  man.  These  events  occupied  three  hundred 
years  ;  during  which  period  civilization  and  knowledge 
made  steady  progress  in  the  Old  World  ;  so  that  Europe,  at 
the  commencement  of  the  nineteenth  century,  had  become 
greatly  changed  from,  that  Europe  which  began  the  coloni- 
zation of  America  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth,  or  the  com- 
mencement of  the  sixteenth.  And  what  is  most  material 
to  my  present  purpose  is,  that  in  the  progress  of  the  first  of 
these  centuries,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  discovery  of  America 
to  the  settlements  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts,  political 
and  religious  events  took  place,  which  most  materially 
affected  the  state  of  society  and  the  sentiments  of  mankind, 
especially  in  England  and  in  parts  of  Continental  Europe. 
After  a  few  feeble  and  unsuccessful  efforts  by  Eng- 
land, under  Henry  the  Seventh,6  to  plant  colonies  in 
America,  no  designs  of  that  kind  were  prosecuted  for  a  long 
period,  either  by  the  English  government  or  any  of  its  sub- 
jects. Without  inquiring  into  the  causes  of  this  delay,  its 
consequences  are  sufficiently  clear  and  striking.  England, 
in  this  lapse  of  a  century,  unknown  to  herself,  but  under  the 
providence  of  God  and  the  influence  of  events,  was  fitting 
herself  for  the  work  of  colonizing  North  America,  on  such 
principles,  and  by  such  men,  as  should  spread  the  English 
name  and  English  blood,  in  time,  over  a  great  portion  of 
the  Western  hemisphere.  The  commercial  spirit  was  greatly 
fostered  by  several  laws  passed  in  the  reign  of  Henry  the 

6.  Henry  the  Seventh. — The  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus  in  1492 
gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  spirit  of  maritime  adventure  throughout 
Western  Europe.  Under  a  commission  of  Henry  VII,  John  Cabot 
made  a  voyage  to  the  New  World  (1497),  and  discovered  the  coast  of 
North  America  from  Labrador  southward.  This  was  the  origin  of  the 
English  claim  to  a  portion  of  the  New  World.  Many  wise  and  salutory 
laws  were  enacted  during  his  reign,  and  commerce  was  greatly 
encouraged. 


38  THE    BUNKER    HILL, 

Seventh  ;  and  in  the  same  reign  encouragement  was  given 
to  arts  and  manufactures  in  the  eastern  countries,  and  some 
not  unimportant  modifications  of  the  feudal  system  took 
place,  by  allowing  the  breaking  of  entails. 

16.  These  and  other  measures,  and  other  occurrences,  were 
making  way  for  a  new  class  of  society  to  emerge  and  show 
itself,  in  a  military  and  feudal  age  ;  a  middle  class,  between 
the  barons  or  great  landholders  and  the  retainers  of  the 
crown,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  tenants  of  the  crown  and 
barons,  and  agricultural  and  other  laborers,  on  the  other 
side.    With  the  rise  and  growth  of  this  new  class  of  society, 
not  only  did  commerce  and  the  arts  increase,  but  better  edu- 
cation, a  greater  degree  of  knowledge,  juster  notions  of  the 
true  ends  of  government,  and  sentiments  favorable  to  civil 
liberty,  began  to  be  spread  abroad,  and  become  more  and 
more  common.     But  the  plants  springing  from  these  seeds 
were  of  slow  growth.     The  character  of  English  society  had 
indeed  begun  to  undergo  a  change  ;  but  changes  of  national 
character  are  ordinarily  the  work  of  time.     Operative  causes 
were,  however,  evidently  in  existence,  and  sure  to  produce, 
ultimately,  their  proper  effect.    From  the  accession  of  Henry 
the  Seventh  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  wars,  England 
enjoyed  much  greater  exemption  from  war,   foreign   and 
domestic,  than  for  a  long  period  before,  and  during  the  con- 
troversy between  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster.7    These 
years  of  peace  were  favorable  to  commerce  and  the  arts. 
Commerce  and  the  arts  augmented  general  and  individual 
knowledge;  and  knowledge  is  the  only  fountain,  both  of  the 
love  and  the  principles  of  human  liberty. 

17.  Other  powerful  causes  soon  came  into  active  play.    The 
Reformation  of  Luther8  broke  out,  kindling  up  the  minds 


7.  York  and  Lancaster.— The  civil  contests  between  these  two  great 
families  of  England  were  styled  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  from  the  badge 
or  symbol  of  each  party.    This  civil  strife  broke  out  in  1455  and  lasted 
thirty  years.    It  was  signalized  by  twelve  pitched  battles,  and  marked 
by  the  most  unrelenting  barbarity. 

8.  Reformation  of  Luther.— This  great  movement,  at  first  religions 
and  ecclesiastical,  afterwards  assumed  a  political  and  social  character. 
It  engrossed  the  attention  of  a  large  portion  of  Europe  during  the 
sixteenth  century,  materially  affected  the  whole  frame-work  of  society 


MONUMENT    ORATIONS.  39 

of  men  afresh,  leading  to  new  habits  of  thought,  and  awak- 
ening in  individuals  energies  before  unknown  even  to  them- 
selves. The  religious  controversies  of  this  period  changed 
society,  as  well  as  religion  ;  indeed  it  would  be  easy  to  prove, 
if  this  occasion  were  proper  for  it,  that  they  changed  society 
to  a  considerable  extent,  where  they  did  not  change  the  re- 
ligion of  the  state.  They  changed  man  himself,  in  his 
modes  of  thought,  his  consciousness  of  his  own  powers,  and 
his  desire  of  intellectual  attainment.  The  spirit  of  commer- 
cial and  foreign  adventure,  therefore,  on  the  one  hand, 
which  had  gained  so  much  strength  and  influence  since  the 
time  of  the  discovery  of  America,  and,  on  the  other,  the 
assertion  and  maintenance  of  religious  liberty,  having  their 
source  indeed  in  the  Reformation,  but  continued,  diversified, 
and  constantly  strengthened  by  the  subsequent  divisions  of 
sentiment  and  opinion  among  the  Reformers  themselves, 
and  this  love  of  religious  liberty  drawing  after  it,  or  bring- 
ing along  with  it,  as  it  always  does,  an  ardent  devotion  to 
the  principle  of  civil  liberty  also,  were  the  powerful  influ- 
ences under  which  character  was  formed,  and  men  trained, 
for  the  great  work  of  introducing  English  civilization,  Eng- 
lish law,  and,  what  is  more  than  all,  Anglo-Saxon  blood, 
into  the  wilderness  of  North  America.  Raleigh  9  and  his 
companions  may  be  considered  as  the  creatures,  principally, 
of  the  first  of  these  causes.  High-spirited,  full  of  the  love  of 
personal  adventure,  excited,  too,  in  some  degree,  by  the 
hopes  of  sudden  riches  from  the  discovery  of  mines  of  the 
precious  metals,  and  not  unwilling  to  diversify  the  labors  of 
settling  a  colony  with  occasional  cruising  against  the  Span- 
iards in  the  West  Indian  Seas,  they  crossed  and  re-crossed 
the  ocean  with  a  frequency  which  surprises  us,  when  we 
consider  the  state  of  navigation,  and  which  evinces  a  most 
daring  spirit. 

and  its  institutions,  and  is  called  in  history  the  Reformation.  The 
leader  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany  was  Martin  Luther.  The  cur- 
rent literature  that  pertains  to  Luther  and  the  Reformation  is  very 
prolific  at  the  present  time. 

9.  Raleigh.— The  story  of  this  gallant  hero  who  figures  so  extensively 
in  history  and  fiction  is  familiar  to  every  school-boy.  Read  in  this 
connection  his  Life  and  the  well  known  story  of  his  gallantry  as  given 
in  ycott's  "Kenilworth," 


40  THE    BUNKER    HILL 

18.  The  other  cause  peopled  New   England.     The  May- 
flower 10  sought  our  shores  under  no  high-wrought  spirit  of 
commercial  adventure,  no  love  of  gold,  no  mixture  of  pur- 
pose warlike  or  hostile  to  any  human  being.     Like  the  dove 
from  the  ark,  ehe  had  put  forth  only  to  find  rest.     Solemn 
supplications  on  the  shore  of  the  sea,  in  Holland,  had  invoked 
for  her,  at  her  departure,  the  blessings  of  Providence.     The 
stars  which  guided  her  were  the  unobscured  constellations 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty.     Her  deck  was  the  altar  of  the 
living  God.     Fervent  prayers  on  bended  knees    mingled, 
morning  and  evening,  with  the  voices  of  ocean  and  the 
sighing  of  the  wind  in  her   shrouds.     Every    prosperous 
breeze,  which,  gently  swelling  her  sails,  helped  the  Pilgrims 
onward  in  their  course,  awoke  new  anthems  of  praise  ;  and 
when  the  elements  were  wrought  into  fury,  neither  the 
tempest,  tossing  their  fragile  bark  like  a  feather,  nor  the 
darkness  and  howling  of  the  midnight  storm,  ever  disturbed, 
in  man  or  woman,  the  firm  and  settled  purpose  of  their 
souls,  to  undergo  all,  and  to  do  all,  that  the  meekest  patience, 
the  boldest  resolution,  and  the  highest  trust  in  God,  could 
enable  human  beings  to  suffer  or  to  perform.11 

19.  Some  differences  may,  doubtless,  be  traced  at  this  day 
between  the  descendants  of  the  early  colonists  of  Virginia 
and  those  of  New  England,  owing  to  the  different  influences 
and  different  circumstances  under  which  the  respective  set- 
tlements were  made  ;'  but  only  enough  to  create  a  pleasing 
variety  in  the  midst  df  a  general  family  resemblance.    ,'But 
the  habits,  sentiments,  and  objects  of  both  soon  became 
modified  by  local  causes,  growing  out  of  their  condition  in 
the  New  World  ;  and  as  this  condition  was  essentially  alike 
in  both,  and  as  both  at  once  adopted  the  same  general  rules 
and  principles  of  English  jurisprudence,  and  became  accus- 
tomed to  the  authority  of  representative  bodies,  these  differ- 
ences gradually  diminished.  They  disappeared  by  the  prog- 


10.  The  Mayflower.— The  frail  but  celeb  rated  vessel  which  brought  the 
Pilgrims   to   the   Plymouth   shore.    Read   portions   of  Longfellow's 
"  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish." 

11.  Commit  this  graphic  passage  to  memory,  beginning:  "  The  other 
cause  peopled  New  England,"  etc. 


MONUMENT  OEATIONS.  41 

ress  of  time,  and  the  influence  of  intercourse.  The  neces- 
sity of  some  degree  of  union  and  co-operation  to  defend 
themselves  against  the  savage  tribes  tended  to  excite  in  them 
mutual  respect  and  regard.  They  fought  together  in  the 
wars  against  France.12  The  great  and  common  cause  of  the 
Revolution  bound  them  to  one  another  by  new  links  of 
brotherhood  ;  and  at  length  the  present  constitution  of  gov- 
ernment united  them  happily  and  gloriously  to  form  the 
great  republic  of  the  world,  and  bound  up  their  interests  and 
fortunes,  till  the  whole  earth  sees  that  there  is  now  for  them, 
in  present  possession  as  well  as  in  future  hope,  but  "One 
Country,  One  Constitution,  and  One  Destiny." 

20.  The  colonization  of  the  tropical  region,  and  the  whole 
of  the  southern  parts  of  the  Continent,  by  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal, was  conducted  on  other  principles,  under  the  influence 
of  other  motives,  and  followed  by  far  different  consequences. 
From  the  time  of  its  discovery,  the  Spanish  government 
pushed  forward  its  settlements  in  America,  not  only  with 
vigor,  but  with  eagerness  ;  so  that  long  before  the  first  per- 
manent English  settlement  had  been  accomplished  in  what 
is  now  the  United  States,  Spain  had  conquered  Mexico, 
Peru,  and  Chili,  and  stretched  her  power  over  nearly  all  the 
territory  she  ever  acquired  on  this  Continent.  The  rapidity 
of  these  conquests13  is  to  be  ascribed  in  a  great  degree  to  the 
eagerness,  not  to  say  the  rapacity,  of  those  numerous  bands 
of  adventurers,  who  were  stimulated  by  individual  interests 
and  private  hopes  to  subdue  immense  regions,  and  take  pos- 
session of  them  in  the  name  of  the  crown  of  Spain.  The 
mines  of  gold  and  silver  were  the  incitements  to  these  efforts, 
and  accordingly  settlements  were  generally  made,  and 
Spanish  authority  established  immediately  on  the  subjuga- 
tion of  territory,  that  the  native  population  might  be  set  to 
work  by  their  new  Spanish  masters  in  the  mines.  From 

12.  Wars  against  France.— Reference  is  made  to  what  Is  popularly 
known  as  the  -'French  and  Indian  Wars,"  which  were  carried  on  with 
much  cruelty  and  bloodshed  just  before  the  war  of  the  Revolution 
broke  out. 

13.  These  conquests. — For  a  full  account  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico 
and  Peru  by  Spain,  the  discovery  of  America  and  all  that  pertains  to 
the  Spanish  conquests  and  discoveries  in  America,  the  student  is  re- 
ferred to  sundry  chapters  in  Prescott's  fascinating  histories. 


4'2  THE   BUNKER   HILL 

these  facts,  the  love  of  gold — gold,  not  produced  by  industry, 
nor  accumulated  by  commerce,  but  gold  dug  from  its  native 
bed  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and  that  earth  ravished  from 
its  rightful  possessors  by  every  possible  degree  of  enormity, 
cruelty  and  crime — was  long  the  governing  passion  in  Span- 
ish wars  and  Spanish  settlements  in  America.  Even  Colum- 
bus himself  did  not  wholly  escape  the  influence  of  this  base 
motive.  In  his  early  voyages  we  find  him  passing  from 
island  to  island,  inquiring  everywhere  for  gold  ;  as  if  God 
had  opened  the  New  World  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Old, 
only  to  gratify  a  passion  equally  senseless  and  sordid,  and  to 
offer  up  millions  of  an  unoffending  race  of  men  to  the  de- 
struction of  the  sword,  sharpened  both  by  cruelty  and  rapac- 
ity. And  yet  Columbus  was  far  above  his  age  and  country. 
Enthusiastic,  indeed,  but  sober,  religious,  and  magnani- 
mous ;  born  to  great  things  and  capable  of  high  sentiments, 
as  his  noble  discourse  before  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  as  well 
as  the  whole  history  of  his  life,  shows.  Probably  he  sacri- 
ficed much  to  the  known  sentiments  of  others,  and  addressed 
to  his  followers  motives  likely  to  influence  them.  At  the 
same  time,  it  is  evident  that  he  himself  looked  upon  the 
world  which  he  discovered  as  a  world  of  wealth,  all  ready 
to  be  seized  and  enjoyed. 

21.  The  conquerors  and  the  European  settlers  of  Spanish 
America  were  mainly  military  commanders  and  common 
soldiers.     The  monarchy  of  Spain  was  not  transferred  to  this 
hemisphere,  but  it  acted  in  it,  as  it  acted  at  home,  through 
its  ordinary  means,  and  its  true  representative,   military 
force.    The  robbery  and  destruction  of  the  native  race  was 
the  achievement  of  standing  armies,  in  the  right  of  the  king, 
and  by  his  authority,  fighting  in  his  name,  for  the  aggran- 
dizement of  his  power  and  the  extension  of  his  prerogatives, 
with  military  ideas  under  arbitrary  maxims, — a  portion  of 
that  dreadful  instrumentality  by  which  a  perfect  despotism 
governs  a  people.    As  there  was  no  liberty  in  Spain,  how 
could  liberty  be  transmitted  to  Spanish  colonies? 

22.  The  colonists  of  English  America  were  of  the  people, 
and  a  people  already  free.    They  were  of  the  middle,  indus- 


MONUMENT  ORATIONS.  43 

trious,  and  already  prosperous  class,  the  inhabitants  of  com- 
mercial and  manufacturing  cities,  among  whom  liberty  first 
revived  and  respired,  after  a  sleep  of  a  thousand  years  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Dark  Ages.14  Spain  descended  on  the  New 
World  in  the  armed  and  terrible  image  of  her  monarchy  and 
her  soldiery ;  England  approached  it  in  the  winning  and 
popular  garb  of  personal  rights,  public  protection,  and  civil 
freedom.  England  transplanted  liberty  to  America  ;  Spain 
transplanted  power.  England,  through  the  agency  of  private 
companies  and  the  efforts  of  individuals,  colonized  this  part 
of  North  America  by  industrious  individuals,  making  their 
own  way  in  the  wilderness,  defending  themselves  against 
the  savages,  recognizing  their  right  to  the  soil,  and  with  a 
general  honest  purpose  of  introducing  knowledge  as  well  as 
Christianity  among  them.  Spain  stooped  on  South  America, 
like  a  vulture  on  its  prey.  Everything  was  force.  Terri- 
tories were  acquired  by  fire  and  sword.  Cities  were  destroyed 
by  fire  and  sword.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  human  beings 
fell  by  fire  and  sword.  Even  conversion  to  Christianity  was 
attempted  by  fire  and  sword. 

23.  Behold,  then,  fellow-citizens,  the  difference  resulting 
from  the  operation  of  the  two  principles  !  Here,  to-day,  on 
the  summit  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  at  the  foot  of  this  monu- 
ment, behold  the  difference  !  I  would  that  the  fifty  thousand 
voices  present  could  proclaim  it  with  a  shout  which  should 
be  heard  over  the  globe.  Our  inheritance  was  of  liberty, 
secured  and  regulated  by  law,  and  enlightened  by  religion 
and  knowledge  ;  that  of  South  America  was  of  power,  stern, 
unrelenting,  tyrannical,  military  power.  And  now  look  to 
the  consequences  of  the  two  principles  on  the  general  and 
aggregate  happiness  of  the  human  race.  Behold  the  results, 
in  all  the  regions  conquered  by  Corte'z  and  Pizarro,  and  the 
contrasted  results  here.  I  suppose  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  may  amount  to  one-eighth,  or  one-tenth,  of 


14.  Dark  Ages. — According  to  Hallam  the  term  applied  to  the  Middle 
Ages,  comprising  about  1,000  years, — from  the  invasion  of  France  by 
Clovis,  486,  to  that  of  Naples,  by  Charles  VIII,  1495.  During  this  time 
learning  was  at  low  ebb. 


44  THE   BUNKER  HILL 

that  colonized  by  Spain  on  this  Continent ;  and  yet  in  all 
that  vast  region  there  are  but  between  one  and  two  millions 
of  people  of  European  color  and  European  blood,  while  in 
the  United  States  there  are  fourteen  millions  who  rejoice  in 
their  descent  from  the  people  of  the  more  northern  part  of 
Europe. 

24.  But  we  may  follow  the  difference  in  the  original  prin- 
ciple of  colonization,  and  in  its  character  and  objects,  still 
farther.    We  must  look  to  moral  and  intellectual  results  ; 
we  must  consider  consequences,   not  only    as  they  show 
themselves  in  hastening  or  retarding  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion and  the  supply  of  physical  wants,  but  in  their  civiliza- 
tion, improvement,  and  happiness.    We  must  inquire  what 
progress  has  been  made  in  the  true  science  of  liberty,  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  great  principles  of  self-government,  and 
in  the  progress  of  man,  as  a  social,  moral,  and  religious 
being. 

25.  I  would  not  willingly  say  anything  on  this  occasion 
discourteous  to  the  new  governments  founded  on  the  demo- 
lition of  the  power  of  the  Spanish  monarchy.     They  are  yet 
on  their  trial,  and  I  hope  for  a  favorable  result.     But  truth, 
sacred  truth,  and  fidelity  to  the  cause  of  civil  liberty,  com- 
pel me  to  say,  that  hitherto  they  have  discovered  quite  too 
much  of  the  spirit  of  that  monarchy  from  which  they  sepa- 
rated themselves.     Quite  too  frequent  resort  is  made  to  mili- 
tary force  ;  and  quite  too  much  of  the  substance  of  the  people 
is  consumed  in  maintaining  armies,  not  for  defence  against 
foreign  aggression,  but  for  enforcing  obedience  to  domestic 
authority.    Standing  armies  are  the  oppressive  instruments 
for  governing  the  people,  in  the  hands  of  hereditary  and 
arbitrary  monarchs.     A  military  republic,15  a  government 
founded  on  mock  elections  and  supported  only  by  the  sword, 
is  a  movement  indeed,  but  a  retrograde  and  disastrous  move- 
ment, from  the  regular  and  old-fashioned  monarchical  sys- 


15.  Military  republic,  etc. — More  than  forty  years  have  elapsed  since 
these  glowing  words  were  uttered.  In  the  light  of  the  world's  history 
since  1843  have  Webster's  ideas  of  a  republic  been  found  to  be  sound  and 
wise? 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  45 

terns.  If  men  would  enjoy  the  blessings  of  republican  gov- 
ernment, they  must  govern  themselves  by  reason,  by  mutual 
counsel  and  consultation,  by  a  sense  and  feeling  of  general 
interest,  and  by  the  acquiescence  of  the  minority  in  the  will 
of  the  majority,  properly  expressed  ;  and,  above  all,  the 
military  must  be  kept,  according  to  the  language  of  our  Bill 
of  Rights,  in  strict  subordination  to  the  civil  authority. 
Wherever  this  lesson  is  not  both  learned  and  practised,  there 
can  be  no  political  freedom.  Absurd,  preposterous  is  it,  a 
scoff  and  a  satire  on  free  forms  of  constitutional  liberty,  for 
frames  of  government  to  be  prescribed  by  military  leaders, 
and  the  right  of  suffrage  to  be  exercised  at  the  point  of  the 
sword. 

26.  Making  all  allowance  for  situation  and  climate,  it  can 
not  be  doubted  by  intelligent  minds,  that  the  difference 
now  existing  between  North  and  South  America  is  justly 
attributable,  in  a  great  degree,  to  political  institutions  in  the 
Old  World  and  in  the  New.  And  how  broad  that  difference 
is  !  Suppose  an  assembly,  in  one  of  the  valleys  or  on  the  side 
of  one  of  the  mountains  of  the  southern  half  of  the  hemi- 
sphere, to  be  held,  this  day,  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  large 
city  ; — what  would  be  the  scene  presented  ?  Yonder  is  a  vol- 
cano, flaming  and  smoking,  but  shedding  no  light,  moral  or 
intellectual.  At  its  foot  is  the  mine,  sometimes  yielding, 
perhaps,  large  gains  to  capital,  but  in  which  labor  is  des- 
tined to  eternal  and  unrequited  toil,  and  followed  only  by 
penury  and  beggary.  The  city  is  filled  with  armed  men  ; 
not  a  free  people,  armed  and  coming  forth  voluntarily  to 
rejoice  in  a  public  festivity,  but  hireling  troops,  supported 
by  forced  loans,  excessive  impositions  on  commerce,  or  taxes 
wrung  from  a  half-fed  and  a  half-clothed  population.  For 
the  great  there  are  palaces  covered  with  gold  ;  for  the  poor 
there  are  hovels  of  the  meanest  sort.  Do  public  improve- 
ments favor  intercourse  between  place  and  place  ?  So  far 
from  this,  the  traveler  can  not  pass  from  town  to  town, 
without  danger,  every  mile,  of  robbery  and  assassination. 
I  would  not  overcharge  or  exaggerate  this  picture  ;  but  its 
principal  features  are  all  too  truly  sketched, 


46  THE    BUNKER    HILL, 

27.  And  how  does  it  contrast  with  the  scene  now  actually 
before  us?  Look  round  upon  these  fields  ;  they  are  verdant 
and  beautiful,  well  cultivated,  and  at  this  moment  loaded 
with  the  riches  of  the  early  harvest.     The  hands  which  till 
them  are  those  of  the  free  owners  of  the  soil,  enjoy  ing  equal 
rights,  and  protected  by  law  from  oppression  and  tyranny. 
Look  to  the  thousand  vessels  in  our  sight,  filling  the  harbor, 
or  covering  the  neighboring  sea.     They  are  the  vehicles  of 
a  profitable  commerce,  carried  on  by  men  who  know  that 
the  profits  of  their  hardy  enterprise,  when  they  make  them, 
are  their  own  ;  and  this  commerce  is  encouraged  and  regu- 
lated by  wise  laws,  and  defended,  when  need  be,  by  the 
valor  and  patriotism  of  the  country.     Look  to  that  fair  city, 
the  abode  of  so  much  diffused  wealth,  so  much  general  hap- 
piness and  comfort,  so  much  personal  independence,  and  so 
much  general  knowledge,  and  not  undistinguished,  I  may 
be  permitted  to  add,  for  hospitality  and  social  refinement. 
She  fears    no    forced  contributions,    no  siege   or  sacking 
from  military    leaders  of   rival  factions.      The    hundred 
temples  in  which  her  citizens  worship  God  are  in  no  danger 
of  sacrilege.     The  regular  administration  of  the  laws  en- 
counters no  obstacle.     The  long  processions  of  children  and 
youth,  which  you  see  this  day,  issuing  by  thousands  from 
her  free  schools,  prove  the  care  and  anxiety  with  which  a 
popular  government  provides  for  the  education  and  morals 
of  the  people.   Everywhere  there  is  order;  everywhere  there 
is  security.     Everywhere  the  law  reaches  to  the  highest  and 
reaches  to  the  lowest,  to  protect  all  in  their  rights,  and  to 
restrain  all  from  wrong  ;  and  over  all  hovers  liberty, — that 
liberty  for  which  our  fathers  fought  and  fell  on  this  very 
spot,  with  her  eye  ever  watchful,  and  her  eagle  wing  ever 
wide  outspread. 

28.  The  English  colonists  in  America,  generally  speaking, 
were  men  who  were  seeking  new  homes  in  a  new  world. 
They  brought  with  them  their  families  and  all  that  wns 
most  dear  to  them.     This  was  especially  the  case  with  the 
colonists  of  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts.     Many  of  them 
were  educated  men,  and  all  possessed  their  full  share,  ac- 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  47 

cording  to  their  social  condition,  of  the  knowledge  and 
attainments  of  that  age.  The  distinctive  characteristic  of 
their  settlement  is  the  introduction  of  the  civilization  of 
Europe  into  a  wilderness,  without  bringing  with  it  the 
political  institutions  of  Europe.  The  arts,  sciences,  and  lit- 
erature of  England  came  over  with  the  settlers.  That  great 
portion  of  the  common  law 16  which  regulates  the  social  and 
personal  relations  and  conduct  of  men,  came  also.  The  jury 
came :  the  habeas  corpus  canie  ;  the  testamentary  power 
came  ;  and  the  law  of  inheritance  and  descent  came  also, 
except  that  part  of  it  which  recognizes  the  rights  of  primo- 
geniture, which  either  did  not  come  at  all,  or  soon  gave  way 
to  the  rule  of  equal  partition  of  estates  among  children.  But 
the  monarchy  did  not  come,  nor  the  aristocracy,  nor  the 
Church,  as  an  estate  of  the  realm.  Political  institutions 
were  to  be  framed  anew,  such  as  should  be  adapted  to  the 
state  of  things.  But  it  could  not  be  doubtful  what  should  be 
the  nature  and  character  of  these  institutions.  A  general 
social  equality  prevailed  among  the  settlers,  and  an  equality 
of  political  rights  seemed  the  natural,  if  not  the  necessary 
consequence. 

29.  It  has  been  said  with  much  vivacity,  that  the  felicity 
of  the  American  colonists  consisted  in  their  escape  from  the 
past.  This  is  true  so  far  as  respects  political  establishments, 
but  no  farther.  They  brought  with  them  a  full  portion  of 
all  the  riches,  of  the  past,  in  science,  in  art,  in  morals,  religion, 
and  literature.  The  Bible  came  with  them.  And  it  is 
not  to  be  doubted,  that  to  the  free  and  universal  reading  of 
the  Bible,  in  that  age,  men  were  much  indebted  for  right 
views  of  civil  liberty.  The  Bible  is  a  book  of  frith,  and  a 
book  of  doctrine,  and  a  book  of  morals,  and  a  book  of 
ligion,  of  especial  revelation  from  God  ;  but  it  is  also  a  boo! 
which  teaches  man  his  own  individual  responsibility,  hi? 
own  dignity,  and  his  equality  with  his  fellow-man. 


16.  Great  portion  of  the  common  law.— It  will  be  interesting  for  the 
student  to  review  his  English  history  in  this  connection,  and  trace  the 
gradual  growth  of  these  great  bulwarks  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  in 
England, 


48  THE   BUXKER    HILL 

30.  Bacon  and  Locke,  and  Shakespeare  and  Milton,  also 
came  with  the  colonists.     It  was  the  object  of  the  first  set- 
tlers to  form  new  political  systems,  but  all  that  belonged  to 
cultivated  man,  to  family,  to  neighborhood,  to  social  rela- 
tions, accompanied  them.     In  the  Doric  phrase  of  one  of  our 
own  historians,  "they  came  to  settle  on  bare  creation  ; "  but 
their  settlement  in  the  wilderness,  nevertheless,  was  not  a 
lodgement  of  nomadic  tribes,  a  mere  resting-place  of  roam- 
ing savages.     It  was  the  beginning  of  a  permanent  commu- 
nity, the  fixed  residence  of  cultivated  men.    Not  only  was 
English  literature  read,  but  English,   good  English,  was 
spoken  and  written,  before  the  axe  had  made  way  to  let  in 
the  sun  upon  the  habitations  and  fields  of  Plymouth  and 
Massachusetts.     And  whatever  may  be  said  to  the  contrary, 
a  correct  use  of  the  English  language  is,  at  this  day,  more 
general  throughout  the  United  States,  than  it  is  throughout 
England  herself. 

31.  But  another  grand  characteristic  is,  that,  in  the  Eng- 
lish colonies,  political  affairs  were  left  to  be  managed  by  the 
colonists  themselves.     This,  is  another  fact  wholly  distin- 
guishing them  in  character,  as  it  has  distinguished  them  in 
fortune,  from  the  colonists  of  Spain.     Here  lies  the  founda- 
tion of  that  experience  in  self-government,  which  has  pre- 
served order,  and  security,  and  regularity,  amidst  the  play 
of  popular  institutions.     Home  government  was  the  secret 
of  the  prosperity  of  the  North  American  settlements.     The 
more  distinguished,  of  the  New  England  colonists,  with  a 
most  remarkaTble  sagacity  and  a  long-sighted  reach   into 
futurity,  refused  to  come  to  America  unless  they  could  bring 
with  them  charters  providing  for  the  administration  of  their 
affairs  in  this  country.     They  saw  from  the  first  the  evils  of 
being  governed  in  the  New  World  by  a  power  fixed  in  the 
Old.     Acknowledging  the  general  superiority  of  the  crown, 
they  still  insisted  on  the  right  of  passing  local  laws,  and  of 
local  administration.     And  history  teaches  us  the  justice  and 
the  value  of  this  determination  in  the  example  of  Virginia. 
The  early  attempts  to  settle  that  Colony  failed,  sometimes 
with  the  most  melancholy  and  fatal  consequences,  from 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  49 

want  of  knowledge,  care,  and  attention  on  the  part  of  those 
who  had  the  charge  of  their  affairs  in  England  ;  and  it  was 
only  after  the  issuing  of  the  third  charter,  that  its  prosperity 
fairly  commenced.  The  cause  was,  that  by  that  third  char- 
ter the  people  of  Virginia,  for  by  this  time  they  deserved  to 
be  so  called,  were  allowed  to  constitute  and  establish  the 
first  popular  representative  assembly  "  which  ever  convened 
on  this  Continent,  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses. 

32.  The  great  elements,  then,  of  the  American  system  of 
government,   originally  introduced  by  the  colonists,  and 
which  were  early  in  operation,  and  ready  to  be  developed, 
more  and  more,  as  the  progress  of  events  should  justify  or 
demand,  were, — 

33.  Escape  from  the  existing  political  system  of  Europe, 
including  its  religious  hierarchies,  but  the  continued  posses- 
sion and  enjoyment  of  its  science  and  arts,  its  literature,  and 
its  manners ; 

34.  Home  government,   or  the  power  of  making  in  the 
.colony  the  municipal  laws  which  were  to  govern  it ; 

Equality  of  rights  ; 

Representative  assemblies,  or  forms  of  government, 
founded  on  popular  elections. 

35.  Few  topics  are  more  inviting,  or  more  fit  for  philo- 
sophical discussion,  than  the  effect  on  the  happiness  of  man- 
kind of  institutions  founded  upon  these  principles  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  the  influence  of  the  New  World  upon  the  Old. 

36.  Her  obligations  to  Europe  for  science  and  art,  laws, 
literature,  and  manners,  America  acknowledges  as  she  ought, 
with    respect    and  gratitude.     The  people  of  the  United 
States,  descendants  of  the  English  stock,  grateful  for  the 
treasures  of  knowledge  derived  from  their  English  ancestors, 

17.  First  popular  representative  assembly.— Yeardly,  a  new  governor 
of  Virginia,  arrived  in  1610.  There  were  then,  twelve  years  after  the 
landing  at  Jamestown,  but  600  colonists,  and  seven  distinct  plantations 
or  boroughs.  Yeardly,  having  made  the  number  of  boroughs  eleven, 
called  a  meeting  of  the  first  colonial  Assembly,  or ''House  of  Burgesses,'' 
to  which  each  of  the  boroughs  sent  its  own  chosen  representatives.  A 
written  constitution,  granted  to  the  colony  in  1621,  still  further  secured 
to  the  people  the  blessing  of  a  representative  form  of  government. 
This  was  the  first  representative  assembly  in  America. 


50  THE   BUNKER    HILL 

admit  also,  with  thanks  and  filial  regard,  that  among  those 
ancestors,  under  the  culture  of  Hampden  and  Sydney18  and 
other  assiduous  friends,  that  seed  of  popular  liberty  first 
germinated,  which  on  our  soil  has  shot  up  to  its  full  height, 
until  its  branches  overshadow  all  the  land. 

37.  But  America  has  not  failed  to  make  returns.     If  she 
has  not  wholly  canceled  the  obligation,  or  equaled  it  by 
others  of  like  weight,  she  has,  at  least,  made  respectable 
advances  towards  repaying  the  debt.     And  she  admits,  that, 
standing  in  the  midst  of  civilized  nations,  and  in  a  civilized 
age,  a  nation  among  nations,  there  is  a  high  part  which  she 
is  expected  to  act,  for  the  general  advancement  of  human 
interests  and  human  welfare. 

38.  American  mines  have  filled  the  mints  of  Europe  with 
the  precious  metals.     The  productions  of  the  American  soil 
and  climate  have  poured  out  their  abundance  of  luxuries  for 
the  tables  of  the  rich,  and  of  necessaries  for  the  sustenance 
of  the  poor.     Birds  and  animals  of  beauty  and  value  have 
been  added  to  the  European  stocks  ;  and  transplantations 
from  the  unequaled  riches  of  our  forests  have  mingled  them- 
selves profusely  with  the  elms,  and  ashes,  and  Druidical 
oaks  of  England. 

39.  America  has  made  contributions  to  Europe  far  more 
important.    Who  can  estimate  the  amount,  or  the  value,  of 
the  augmentation  of  the  commerce  of  the  world  that  has 
resulted  from  America  ?  Who  can  imagine  to  himself  what 
would  now  be  the  shock  to  the  Eastern  Continent,  if  the 
Atlantic  were  no  longer  traversable,  or  if  there  were  no 
longer  American  productions,  or  American  markets  ? 

40.  But  America  exercises  influences,  or  holds  out  exam- 
ples, for  the  consideration  of  the  Old  World,  of  a  much 
higher,  because  they  are  of  a  moral  and  political  character. 

41.  America  has  furnished  to  Europe  proof  of  the  fact,  that 
popular  institutions,  founded  on  equalityand  the  principle 


18.  Hampden  and  Sydney. — John  Hampden  (1594-1&43),  a  distinguished 
English  patriot,  was  an  able  advocate  of  human  rights  and  a  staunch 
friend  of  the  people.  Read  Macaulay's  essay  on  Hampden.  Sir  Philip 
Sydney  (1554-1580)  a  poet,  courtier  and  an  especial  favorite  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  He  died  from  a  wound  received  at  the  battle  of  Zutphen. 


MONUMENT   ORATIONS.  51 

of  representation,  are  capable  of  maintaining  governments, 
able  to  secure  the  rights  of  person,  property,  and  reputation. 

42.  America  has  proved  that  it  is  practicable  to  elevate  the 
mass  of  mankind, — that  portion  which  in  Europe  is  called 
the  laboring,  or  lower  class, — to  raise  them  to  self-respect,  to 
make  them  competent  to  act  a  part  in  the  great  right  and 
great  duty  of  self-government ;  and  she  has  proved  that  this 
may  be  done  by  education  and  the  diffusion  of  knowledge. 
She  holds  out  an  example,  a  thousand  times  more  encour- 
aging than  ever  was  presented  before,  to  those  nine-tenths 
of  the  human  race  who  are  born  without  hereditary  fortune 
or  hereditary  rank. 

43.  America  has  furnished  to  the  world  the  character  of 
Washington  !    And  if  our  American  institutions  had  done 
nothing  else,  that  alone  would  have  entitled  them  to  the 
respect  of  mankind. 

Washington  !19  ' '  First  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first 
in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  !  "  Washington  is  all  our 
own  !  The  enthusiastic  veneration  and  regard  in  which  the 
people  of  the  United  States  hold  him,  prove  them  to  be 
worthy  of  such  a  countryman  ;  while  his  reputation  abroad 
reflects  the  highest  honor  on  his  country.  I  would  cheer- 
fully put  the  question  to-day  to  the  intelligence  of  Europe 
and  the  world,  what  character  of  the  century,  upon  the 
whole,  stands  out  in  the  relief  of  history,  most  pure,  most 
respectable,  most  sublime ;  and  I  doubt  not,  that,  by 
a  suffrage  approaching  to  unanimity,  the  answer  would  be 
Washington  ! 

44.  The  structure  now  standing  before  us,  by  its  upright- 
ness, its  solidity,  its  durability,  is  no  unfit  emblem  of  his 
character.     His  public  virtues  and  public  principles  were  as 
firm  as  the  earth  on  which  it  stands  ;  his  personal  motives, 
as  pure  as  the  serene  heaven  in  which  its  summit  is  lost. 
But,  indeed,  though  a  fit,  it  is  an  inadequate  emblem.    Tow- 
ering high  above  the  column  which  our  hands  have  builded, 

19.  Washington  !— Webster's  srand  eulogy  of  Washington  is  indeed  a 
matchless  piece  of  oratory.  Read  and  re-read  it  until  every  sentence  is 
indelibly  fastened  upon  the  memory. 


TEST  QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW. 


1.  Who  was  Daniel  Webster? 

2.  Where  and  when  was  he  born  ? 

3.  What  can  you  say  of  his  father  and  mother? 

4.  Tell  something  about  Webster's  boyhood  days  in  the  wilds  of  New 
Hampshire. 

5.  What  can  you  tell  of  his  early  love  for  books? 

ti.  Illustrate  by  what  he  afterwards  told  of  his  committing  portions 
of  Pope,  Addisou  and  other  English  classic  authors  to  memory. 

7.  What  have  you  learned  of  Webster's  early  school  life? 

8.  Why  were  his  opportunities  so  very  meagre  ? 

9.  Tell  what  you  can  of  his  brother  Ezekiel. 

10.  Can  you  give  the  often-quoted  story  of  the  plea  for  the  life  of  a 
woodchuck,  made  by  the  two  orothers  ? 

11.  To  what  famous  school  was  Daniel  sent  at  an  early  age? 

12.  What  peculiar  timidity  did  the  future  orator  show  at  this  school  ? 

13.  Repeat  from  memory  what  he  said  about  it. 

14.  What  other  great  orators  have  showed  a  similar  weakness  in  early 
life? 

15.  What  college  did  Webster  fit  for  and  attend  ? 

16.  What  have  you  read  of  hfs  college  career  ? 

17.  What  local  fame  did  he  acquire  at  college  ? 

18.  What  did  he  do  first  after  graduation  ? 

19.  What  did  he  do  with  his  first  savings? 

20.  Tell  something  about  Ezekiel  Webster's  untimely  death. 

21.  What  opinion  did  Webster  always  cherish  of  his  brother's  talents  ? 

22.  What  profession  did  Daniel  adopt? 

23.  Where  did  he  first  settle,  and  with  what  success? 

24.  What  official  position  was  he  offered? 

25.  Was  this  a  turning  point  in  his  career,  and  why? 

26.  What  can  you  say  of  his  father's  disappointment? 

27.  Explain  how  a  few  years  showed  that  the  future  orator  decided 
wisely. 

28.  What  was  his  first  entrance  to  a  political  career? 

29.  What  great  fame  did  he  now  rapidly  gain  ? 

30.  Mention  the  political  positions  filled  by  him  during  his  life. ' 

31.  What  can  you  say  of  his  fame  as  a  great  lawyer,  as  a  great  orator, 
and  as  a  great  statesman  ? 

32.  Tell  what  you  can  of  one  or  more  of  his  great  legal  cases. 

33.  Mention  the  circumstances  attendingthe  delivery  of  three  or  more 
of  his  great  orations. 

34.  What  were  some  of  the  most  noteworthy  things  done  by  him  as  a 
statesman  ? 

35.  Describe  Daniel  Webster's  personal  appearance. 

36.  To  what  extent  did  it  help  his  oratory? 

37.  What  were  some  of  his  most  marked  personal  characteristics? 

38.  What  was  the  great  disappointment  of  his  life? 

39.  Did  it  hasten  his  death  ? 

40.  When  and  where  did  Daniel  Webster  die? 

41.  What  can  you  say  of  his  last  days? 

42.  What  were  the  marked  characteristics  of  his  oratory  ? 

43.  How  will  Webster  compare  with  other  great  orators  of  this  or  any 
other  great  country  ?    Explain  in  some  detail. 


E 


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